Muzaffarpur: Armed criminals looted Rs 4.35 lakh in cash from a petrol pump near Rautania village on the Muzaffarpur-Saraiya road under the jurisdiction of Karza police station in Muzaffarpur district late on Monday night.

The police said four criminals riding on two motorbikes reached Rautania reliance petrol pump around midnight on Monday and looted cash from the cash counter.

The employees were taken aback over the sudden attack by the robbers, who arrived with their faces covered behind clothes.

The station house officer (SHO) of Karja police station, Avinish Kumar, said efforts were on to ascertain the identity of the robbers on the basis of the CCTV footage recovered from the area.

The Sariaya sub-divisional police officer Shankar Jha visited the spot on Tuesday and inquired about the loot and the circumstances in which it took place.

The robbers were said to be in the age group of 25 to 30 years. The police have detained some suspects for interrogation.

Sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Jha said that the case would be cracked soon. Raids were conducted on Tuesday to nab the culprits, he said.

A month ago, armed criminals had looted Rs 3.88 lakh in cash from the employee of another petrol pump under the jurisdiction of Sahebganj police station in western region of the district.

The incident took place when the employee was going to deposit money in a bank on February 27 this year.