Armed robbers looted a petrol pump at gunpoint in Dhanarua, located on the southern fringe of the capital, on Monday morning. The criminals took away around Rs 6 lakh from Shekhar Filling Station.

According to sources, the incident occurred early morning when the movement of people and vehicles on the road was thin. As the petrol pump located at Viranchi More on the state highway is open round-the-clock, two persons on a bike entered the petrol pump on the pretext of refuelling their vehicle.

As the petrol pump employees were busy filling the two-wheeler tank, one of the person alerted other gang members.

Soon, six persons riding two bikes entered the petrol pump premises and pointed a gun at an employee. The criminals after snatching the keys of the petrol pump office entered the office and took away Rs 6 lakh kept in the drawer.

Dhanarua station house officer Rohan Kumar said: "The petrol pump employee could not identify the criminals as their faces were covered. The police have registered a robbery case and various section of arms act." The SHO also said that police are conducting raids to nab the criminals.

Police sources said prima facie it appeared to be the handiwork of local criminals as they had prior idea about number of staff working in the night shift. Police sources also said that the criminals after looting the petrol pump, while returning even damaged the CCTV cameras installed at the outlet. Sources said though the criminals tried to damage the CCTV cameras installed at the outlet, the police are collecting the recorded footage from the hard drive.

In another incident of theft, criminals on Monday early morning robbed cash and other items worth around Rs 2.5 lakh from a shopping mall in the Kadamkuan police station area on Monday morning.

An official at Kadamkuan police station on condition of anonymity said: "The criminals had entered the shopping mall by cutting the rear shutter of the shop."

Pradeep Singh, the manager of the shopping mall, said: "The stolen items include around Rs 25,000 kept as change in the drawer and other items such as sari, blazers, jacket and other hosiery items."

Singh claimed that the criminals even tried to break the main locker where around Rs 6 lakh was kept. According to the manager, the incident occurred on Monday intervening night between 1am and 4am.

Sources said the police have seized the hard drive of CCTV cameras, where some people are seen moving in the dark.

Police claimed that prima facie it appeared to be the handiwork of some local criminals.