Poila Baishakh at home, cricket in Rawalpindi. The twin factors may have kept the cops at ease, while gangsters carried out a daylight heist of Rs 15 lakh.

Two motorcycle-borne men, toting improvised firearms, came to a screeching halt in front of a cloth merchant’s Maruti parked on Karbala Road, in Metiabruz, and fled with the money. The duo disappeared after firing twice in the air and, surprisingly, so did the merchant’s driver, identified as Pappu.

Police, caught unawares, saw a nexus between Pappu and the goons. At the end of the day, they recovered the abandoned car and the two-wheeler from a locality nearby. Pappu’s brother Tenia has been detained for interrogation.

Merchant Dara Mollah reached Karbala Road around 1.30 pm with the cash in a briefcase. He was to buy garments from a local auction. “He had collected the money from six Ludhiana-based business associates,” said a Metiabruz police station officer.

Mollah got off near Mutia, in Metiabruz, leaving behind the briefcase in the car. He asked driver Pappu to wait till he returned and proceeded to the auction. As soon as he entered the market, the gangsters struck.

Bystanders told police the two yet-unidentified miscreants stopped their motorcycle alongside Mollah’s Maruti. “Each of them whipped out revolvers and fired twice in the air to scare us away. The duo then opened the rear door of the car and lifted the briefcase. Within minutes, they fled,” the witnesses said.

What put police on to Pappu was his disappearance from the spot immediately after the gangsters. “Witnesses said that he had not put up any resistance. He didn’t even raise an alarm. We suspect Pappu had tipped off the goons about Mollah’s money,” said the police officer.

Mollah lodged a complaint with the local police half an hour after the robbery. “No policeman was seen patrolling the road today. Usually, two or three constables make a round.It may have been the holiday mood,” said Ranjit Singh, a local resident.

As word reached them, police launched a frantic search. A number of hideouts were raided. But all efforts to track down the culprits proved futile. Mollah’s Maruti was found near Pappu’s house, the two-wheeler some distance away.

The detective department has been alerted, and a vigil is being kept on highways to Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa.