Police at Maharajpur. Picture by Surajit Roy

Malda, April 2: A gang of more than 10 armed dacoits ambushed a van carrying salary of government employees on the Malda-Mahadipur road this afternoon and fled with Rs 2.49 lakh.

They also chopped off the fingers of one of two escorting policemen and snatched away their service rifles. One of the eight government employees who were in the van was injured on his right hand.

The rifles were later found on a nearby field, abandoned by the dacoits after a jawan from a passing BSF vehicle gave them chase.

Maharajpur, where the incident took place, is less than 10km from the Mahadipur border outpost.

District police chief Satyajit Banerjee later claimed that the gang had been “identified” and arrests would be made soon.

“The BSF has been asked to remain vigilant so that the dacoits cannot cross over to Bangladesh,” said Banerjee.

Around 3.30pm, eight employees of the Bengal sericulture department, escorted by two police constables, started off from the deputy director’s office in Malda town, carrying the cash to their Piyasbhari Central Nursery office, around 20km away.

The dacoits had been waiting under a culvert. Entaj Ali, who was working in a field less than 150m away, said a man riding a motorcycle alerted the gang minutes before the van reached the spot. The van was travelling slowly because the road is in a very bad shape.

“Soon, 10 to 20 dacoits wielding long knives and firearms came out from under the culvert and forced the van to stop by throwing stones at it. They dragged the men out, beat them up, took the money and fled. The whole operation took less than 20 minutes. We stood helpless because all of them were armed,” Ali said.

Minutes later, a BSF vehicle arrived at the spot and one jawan chased the dacoits but could not catch them.

Apart from the salary, the gang also took Rs 1,300 and a cellphone from one of the employees.