On Thursday night at around 9.10 pm, two dacoits barged into the office of a petrol pump station at Parang under the Nisha police station in Angul and looted Rs 1.5 lakh at gunpoint from its manager Jitendra Behera.
As per sources, the crime occurred when Behera was about to close the office. He was shot at from close range by a miscreant without any provocation. The bullet hit his right thigh. Of the two dacoits, one was masked. Soon, they snatched the key from Behera by flaunting arms, opened the locker and took away Rs 1.5 lakh before fleeing the spot. Behera was rescued in serious condition and was admitted in the District Headquarters Hospital, Angul and later was rushed to the SCB Medical College Hospital, Cuttack.
This is the third incident of petrol pump loot in Angul in the last three months. The locals have alleged police-looter nexus for frequent occurrences of the crime.