Bhubanswar, April 23: Six motorcycle-borne persons looted cash worth more than Rs 10 lakh from a group of employees of a bank at gunpoint near Kuakhai river bridge on NH-5 on the city outskirts this evening. The employees were carrying the cash to their bank from an automobile showroom at Phulnakhara.

The three employees of the private bank were returning from the automobile showroom at Phulnakhara in a four-wheeler with the cash when the incident occurred. They were carrying the cash that had been collected from customers and were going to deposit it in the bank at Bomikhal.

Six youths on three motorcycles followed them and intercepted their vehicle on the Kuakhai river bridge. They held the employees at gunpoints and made off with the cash.

While four of them fled towards Balianta on two motorcycles, two others left towards Bhubaneswar on another motorcycle, said one of the bank employees.

The bank employees did not get a chance to raise an alarm and no one could come to their rescue as the area on the city outskirts was deserted at the time of the loot. The bank employees said they frequently used to visit the showroom to collect cash and return, but they had never expected such a situation.

As the looters left, the bank employees rushed to the nearby police station and also reported the matter to Mancheswar police. Senior police officials, including deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Nitinjeet Singh, rushed to the spot.

The city police have detained some employees of the automobile showroom and have started questioning them.

However, the police said the showroom employees could not tell them the exact amount of the cash that the bank employees had taken with them.

“We have detained some employees and are inquiring into the matter,” said a senior police officer.

The security guards of the showroom said they had seen a vehicle of the private bank entering into the campus around 4.50pm with the driver and one employee inside it. “We did not know when the vehicle left the showroom through the exit gate and who were in the car. We came to know about the matter only after the police came here,” said a security guard.

On January 25, three motorcycle-borne youths looted a bag containing Rs 12 lakh in cash and some cheques at gunpoint from two employees of a private company at Satsang Vihar.

Though the police had detained the employees of the private company who were carrying the cash, they have not yet been able to arrest the persons involved in the loot.

The incident had occurred during daytime when the employees were on their way to a bank at Bapuji Nagar to deposit cash. They were in a car when the looters intercepted their vehicle and fled with the cash.

In the last year, more than seven such incidents of looting have occurred in and around the capital. The police, however, have not been able to crack any of these cases.