Rs18.23 lakh looted from Tathwade petrol pump

Five unidentified thieves struck at Pandit petrol pump in Tathwade in Wakad area in the wee hours of Thursday and decamped with Rs18.23 lakh.

Pump owner Vilas Prabhakar Gavankar lodged a complaint at the Hinjewadi police station. The police detained 35 staff, including 22 security guards. The cash could not be deposited in bank as it was a holiday. It was kept in an iron safe at the outlet.

Additional commissioner of police (crime) Anant Shinde and deputy commissioner of police (zone III) Dnyaneshwar Chavan inspected the spot.

Gavankar said there are three sets of keys of the safe. Two sets are with accountants, who work in shifts, while the third set is with another co-owner of the company, Abhijit Deshpande.

Senior inspector GS Madgulkar said the goons managed to enter the cabin and broke the iron safe and ran away with the cash.

“We have taken the fingersprints and formed three teams to investigate the incident. Had the CCTV cameras been installed, we could have identified the goons. There are 125 employees working at the petrol pump,” he added.

The police are baffled that there were six security guards on duty but none of them could hear the noise or detect the movement of the culprits when the incident took place.