Three armed men robbed employees of Indian Oil Petrol pump of Rs 2.30 lakh at Ujjwal Nagar on Wardha Road late Monday night. The employees sustained minor injuries as they were bashed up by the robbers, Sonegaon police said. The police have registered a case of robbery on the complaint of Ashishprasad Kaushalprasad Pandey (35), a resident of Kabir Nagar, an employee of the pump. Owner of the pump is Rohan Rathod, police officials said. A senior police official said that Ashish Pandey and Brahmanand Shukla were on duty during the night shift. They closed the pump at 11 pm and calculated the cash. The cash was kept in a drawer of the office. The employees were staying in the office for the whole night as they were tasked with opening the pump early in the morning, he said.

 

He further said that Pandey and Shukla were taking rest after having dinner when the robbers carrying axes and sharp-edged weapons entered the pump at 12.20 am. After spotting Pandey and Shukla, they started threatening them with weapons. The two were also bashed up by the robbers to create mental pressure on them, the official said. Later, the accused pocketed Rs 2.30 lakh from the counter and snatched mobile phones of the accused. The desperados boarded their car and sped away from the spot towards Chhatrapati square, the official claimed. Pandey immediately alerted Sonegaon police about the incident. DCP (Zone 1) Nurool Hasan and Sonegaon police rushed to the spot. After inspecting the crime scene, the police have registered the case under Sections 394, 504, 506 and 34 of Indian Penal Code.

 

The police official said that CCTV cameras are installed in the petrol pump, but the police are finding it difficult to identify the faces due to low light. The car was parked near Hotel Airport Centre Point and one of their accomplices was standing there. After boarding the car, last footage of the car was found in the Narendra Nagar area. The police are suspecting that the robbers have did recce before committing the daring robbery. They might be aware about the fact that only two employees stay in the night with cash.