Bhubaneswar, Aug 25: Six goons robbed a student of his college fees in a moving bus, threw him off the vehicle on NH-5 and fled with the booty this afternoon.

Sudipta Kumar Behera, 21, a postgraduate student of social work, lost his college readmission fee of Rs 10,000 to the goons.

Behera, who was lucky enough not to have lost his life or limbs after being thrown off the running bus, escaped with minor injuries. He was coming from Cuttack.

He said more than six youths, all in their 30s, boarded the bus from Rasulgarh Square and blocked the exit door of the vehicle immediately.

“I was about to get down near Jayadev Vihar when they surrounded me and tried to snatch my shoulder bag in which I was carrying my laptop. As I protested and tried to prevent them from snatching the bag, they pulled out Rs 10,000 in cash from my trouser pocket. Though I asked the bus conductor and helper to stop the bus, they did not act,” said Behera, a native of Salepur in Cuttack district.

The goons got down a few metres away from the Jayadev Vihar bus stop. Behera called the police control room and informed the cops about the crime. Later, he lodged a complaint with Nayapalli police. The police have detained the bus’s conductor and helper.

General secretary of State Private Bus Operators’ Association Debendra Sahu said they would take up the matter with the police. “Recently, we have come across several cases of theft by goons in running buses. We will request the police to deploy their men in plainclothes at major bus stops in the city,” said Sahu.