Rourkela, April 28: Two motorcycle-borne goons snatched away cash worth Rs 2.5 lakh at the point of knife from two women in front of their houses in Balughat here while they were returning from a bank after withdrawing the money.

A case has been registered at Raghuanath Palli police station, which is investigating the matter. Saraswati Bhowmik, a homemaker, was returning home with the cash in a bag along with her neighbour, when the incident occurred. The goons stopped the autorickshaw in which they were travelling and snatched away the bag carrying the cash.

Bhowmik, a widow, had withdrawn Rs 3 lakh from a bank at Udit Nagar for her son’s marriage. She had handed over Rs 50,000 to her son who went for marketing while Bhowmik and her neighbour was returning home in the autorickshaw.

The police said two motorcycle–borne youths, who were following them from near the bank, intercepted the autorickshaw just before Bhowmik reached her house. They snatched the cash showing knives and sped away.

“Though we shouted for help, none came to our rescue. Even the autorickshaw driver fled from the spot when the incident occurred,” said Bhowmik in her complaint to the police.

However, the incident occurred so fast and both the women were so frightened that they could not even remember the colour of the motorcycle or identify the autorickshaw.

The police said they had got the complaint and registered a case. As both the women were in a state of shock, they could not give any details of the bike or the autorickshaw that had dropped them near their house.

“We are trying to locate the auto-rickshaw driver. Besides, we have started blocking and checking all exit points of the town,” said a senior police officer.