Date:06/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/06/stories/2008120655890600.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Armed robbers loot petrol bunk

Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD: Two days after terror suspects escaped by firing at policemen in the State capital, armed robbers looted a petrol bunk on the outskirts near Medhcal after opening fire at two workers in the wee hours of Friday.

While Chinni, 25, manager of the BPCL company outlet, sustained bullet wound on shoulder, cashier Ravinder Reddy, 23, was critically injured as the bullet hit his chest. Both were admitted to a corporate hospital in Secunderabad.

The four-member gang took away Rs. 90,000 after beating two workers of the bunk located on the Nizamabad-Hyderabad highway at Yellampet village. Police believe their associates waited in a vehicle in the darkness a few yards away and the entire gang later sped away in it.

Clad in pullovers, trousers and wearing sports shoes, the robbers walked inside the bunk around 3 a.m. Twenty minutes earlier, the Medchal police station night duty officer Anjaiah left the place after stopping by for checking. The robbers lunged at worker Ismail and threatened to kill him if he raised an alarm showing tapanchas. While two robbers beat up him, others snatched his cash bag containing Rs. 60,000.

Armed robbers looted the same bunk towards the end of 2006 by firing into the air. But that case was not detected yet.