Maize trader shot at, ₹3.70 lakh looted in Bihar’s Purnia

According to reports, Araria resident Rajeev Kumar Mandal was returning home from Gulabbagh with his friend Raj Kumar Yadav on a bike after selling maize when two motorcycle-borne criminals accosted them near Kath pool at about 10pm

Motorcycle-borne criminals shot at a maize trader and looted ₹3.70 lakh from him on NH-57 Purnia-Jogbani road near Kasba under the same (Kasba) police station in Bihar late Thursday evening. The trader is undergoing treatment at Purnia Sadar hospital where his condition is stable.

Representational Image. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

According to reports, Araria resident Rajeev Kumar Mandal was returning home from Gulabbagh with his friend Raj Kumar Yadav on a bike after selling maize when two motorcycle-borne criminals accosted them near Kath pool at about 10pm.

“They waylaid us and snatched the bag containing ₹3.70 lakh. When we tried to put up a fight, they fired once and the bullet hit Mandal on his arm,” Yadav said. “Later, I rushed him to the Sadar hospital in Purnia on the bike.”

Station house officer (SHO) of Sadar police station Madhurendra Kishor, who reached Sadar hospital to record Mandal’s statement, said, “We have begun a manhunt for the two criminals.”

He also said that the police have been asking businessmen and farmers to accept payments only through digital transactions, and not carry huge amounts of cash.

Elsewhere on NH-57, criminals shot at a railway gateman near Jalalgarh when he was going to Katihar. Sujeet Kumar Paswan is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Purnia where his condition is said to be critical.