Gold, cash looted from Kerala company

Agra :  Four armed men escaped with eight kilograms of gold and Rs.1 lakh in cash from the office of a Kerala-based company here Thursday, police said.

Company officials, including a guard, told police they were forced into the restroom after the bandits forced them at gunpoint to open the locker in the strongroom.

The criminals came to the office of Manappuram Gold Loan Company asking details about the formalities for a gold loan, Senior Superintendent of Police Shalabh Mathur told IANS.

In no time, they snapped the wires of the CCTV cameras. After the bandits left, the employees shouted for help.

The company’s office is on the first floor of a three-storeyed building on the busy Shah Ganj-Bodla road. It has seven branches in Agra.

The firm was founded in a coastal village in Thrissur district of Kerala by the late V.C. Padmanabhan, father of the present CEO, Nandakumar.