- PUNE: Four robbers armed with deadly knives, daggers, axes and crowbars attacked a gasoline station belonging to Vinita Kamte, widow of a security official killed in the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, in the suburb Dapodi in Pune in the early hours of Thursday.
The four crooks decamped in a Maruti 800 in the direction of Mumbai with INR70,000 and a SIM card of a gasoline station employee at around 4.15 a.m.
The crime took place in about 10 minutes, according to the employee who was unable to give a description of the robbers. The worker was able to provide a vehicle license plate number.
Investigating Officer Rajendra Giri said the station had no cameras,
Vinita Kamte, widow of Ashok Kamte, told journalists the robbers had initially attempted to break the safe, but were unsuccessful. The cash they took was kept in a drawer of a table.
Police claimed only one employee was present at the station, but the widow said there were three, but two of them were unaware of the crime taking place. She also said there was a security guard at a nearby ATM.
The Maharashtra government had given gasoline stations and Liquid Petroleum Gas distribution outlets to the families of security officers slain in the terrorist attacks. Vinita had been allotted a gasoline station in suburb Dapodi in Pune. Earlier, the state government had allotted a gasoline station to Vinita in Chembur suburb of Mumbai. But since she and her family were residing in Pune, she demanded that the gasoline station be allotted to her in Pune. Accordingly, she was allotted a gasoline station in Pune nine months ago.