'Same gang involved that robbed Dunlop, Park St gold loan offices'

It is now being suspected by the police that the same gang that was involved in the two recent incidents of dacoity at two gold loan offices — one at Park Street and the other in Dunlop few months ago — might have carried out the robbery at IIFL Gold Loan office on Khardah Station Road near Arunachal More on Saturday. Involvement of dacoits from Bangladesh has also not been ruled out.

According to preliminary investigation, police suspect that the miscreants might have links with some Bangladeshis as well. Senior police officers of Barrackpore police commissionarate have already spoken to their counterparts in the bordering areas of North 24-Parganas.

Raids are being conducted in the bordering areas to nab the culprits. Police are not ruling out the possibility that the dacoits have already crossed the border and fled to Bangladesh. The investigating officers are also in talks with senior officials of the Border Security Force.

A woman was shot at by some miscreants who stormed into IIFL Gold Loan office and looted ornaments at gun point. The injured woman is undergoing treatment at a hospital. The incident took place at around 9.10 am on Saturday.

The woman, identified as Sarbari Ghosh, a customer was shot at from close quarter when she refused to hand over the ornaments which she had brought to deposit at the office. According to investigation, police found that the miscreants had looted gold ornaments worth a few lakh rupees.

Police have already collected the CCTV footages of the financial institution but they are yet to trace the culprits. The local residents and employees of the various offices at the building are quite insecured after the incident and are mulling to deploy full-time security personnel at the building. They will also soon urge the police for their co-operation.

Cops have also found that the miscreants have carried out the crime in almost in the same manner as in the earlier two incidents at Park Street and Dunlop few months ago. A gang of armed robbers made away with around 30 kg gold worth crores from a gold loan firm in Dunlop area.

The robbers came on bikes and stole around 25-30 kg of gold along with cash from Manappuram Finance Limited branch in Dunlop in December last year.

In another incident, four miscreants stormed into a firm at Park Street offering loans in lieu of gold and looted 10 kg of the yellow metal worth Rs 2.88 crore in January this year.