Shock in B'luru as armed men rob jewellery store of Rs 60L worth gold, fire at owner in broad daylight

Hameed Ashraf | NT

Bengaluru: In a daring daylight robbery in Bengaluru, a jewellery store was looted by a gang of armed assailants who opened fire at the store owner before fleeing with gold valuables worth Rs 60 lakh on Thursday.

The incident took place at Vinayaka Gold Jewellers on the busy Pipeline Road under Byadarahalli Police Station limits here.

Speaking to News Trail, the jurisdictional police said, "Preliminary investigation has revealed that at around 10:42 am, four unidentified men came on two bikes and entered the store posing as customers. Two of them went inside while the other two waited outside the store."

The two men approached the owner, Manoj Lohar, 30, ( in pic) and asked for a finger ring. As Lohar turned backwards to pull out a display tray from the showcase, the two men caught hold of him.

Meanwhile the other two, who were waiting outside, quickly entered the store and pulled down the shutter from inside. The miscreants stuffed all the valuables including one kilogram of gold from the showcase in a huge bag.

As Lohar attempted to resist and break-free from their grip, one of the assailants pulled out a gun and shot him in the thigh following which all four of them rushed out of the store.

A few eye-witnesses spoke to News Trail and said that a few passers-by had noticed the scuffle and also saw an assailant carrying a gun in his hand.

"Sensing trouble, several men here attempted to catch hold of the fleeing men. But the miscreants threatened them with the gun and escaped from the spot," the eyewitnesses said.

The police said that the miscreants got scared as people chased them. "In a bid to escape, the miscreants abandoned one of their bikes behind," said the police officer.

Manoj Lohar was immediately shifted to a hospital where he is currently being treated and is said to be out of danger. Deputy Commissioner of Police, West Division, S Girish visited the spot along with more personnel, dog squads and experts from Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for a thorough investigation.

A case has been registered at and the DCP has formed a special team for the probe. The CCTV cameras are being verified to identify the assailants.