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.
