Patna: A group of criminals ransacked the office of a private firm at Dehri-on-Sone in Rohtas district and allegedly looted Rs 3.5 crore at gunpoint on Sunday. The police, however, denied the incident.

Pritam Kumar Singh, who claimed himself to be an employee of Aditya Multicom Private Ltd, a firm which deals with sand mining in Rohtas, said around 40 men armed with firearms and iron rods barged in around 4pm and held the employees at gunpoint.

The men thrashed the security guard and other employees and snatched cash from the cashier when the latter was busy counting the currency notes collected from different sand ghats in the district. Pritam, who looks after cash-related work, claimed that the robbers had covered their faces with masks and appeared to be locals.

The men decamped with the cash after ransacking the office and damaging the furniture. Pritam claimed that the men had raised slogans in favour of Hulas Pandey and Neki Ahmad before fleeing.

Pritam said he immediately informed the managing director and other officials of the Calcutta-headquartered firm. A message was also sent to the local police and senior police officers of the district, who sent a team to probe the matter.

When contacted, Rohtas superintendent of police Manavjeet Singh Dhillon denied the incident of cash loot and said the men had ransacked the office. "The reason behind the attack on the office of the firm is being ascertained," he told The Telegraph.

Preliminary probe revealed that the operation of sand ghats of the firm had been suspended from March 15.