Jamshedpur, April 9: A gang of four armed men swooped down on a petrol pump at Rajnagar in Seraikela-Kharsawan, about 10 km from here, around 9:30 pm and decamped with Rs 1.6 lakh from the cash counter.

In their act, they indiscriminately showered bullets on Sandeep Kumar Gupta (30), the manager of the petrol pump, who tried to stop the hoodlums from running away with the cash. Gupta received two shots in his chest and was rushed to the Kharangajhar Tata Motors Hospital where the doctors declared him brought dead.

According to Laxman Prasad Singh, the superintendent of police, Seraikela-Kharsawan, the gang, which rode in on two bikes, had refuelled their vehicles first. ?The criminals, who apparently were in their early twenties had first got their bike refilled. When the pump boy, who filled their bikes, asked for the payment, one of them fished out a pistol from his bag and barged into the manager?s cabin. The others followed and soon afterwards the criminals had the manager at gun point and demanded the entire cach? of money that was lying with him. When he tried to put up a resistance, one of them fired at him repeatedly,? Singh said.

The owner of the pump, the police chief further said, was hanging around the spot along with other staff when the incident occurred. But the owner, who also had a licenced revolver at his disposal, did not try and stop the gang while they were on the rampage.

But he followed the gang in his Indica as the four men were on their way out. But the chase went futile as they fled into the nearby dense jungle.

The superintendent of police said the cops have launched an intensive operation to comb out the criminals. The area, he added, has been cordorned off and sniffer dogs have been pressed into service to trace the assailants.