Some unidentified miscreants severely assaulted the owner of a jewellery shop and decamped with the gold ornaments worth Rs three lakh on Saturday in Kota, Udupi.
The incident occurred when three persons entered Durga Jewelers in the night and asked for a gold chain weighing around 12-14 grams. Proprietor Ravindra Acharya, who answered that he does not have one, asked them to go to other gold outlets. While Acharya was engaged in the conversation, one of them locked the shutter from inside. Frightened, Acharya raised an alarm for help. The miscreants thrashed him badly while one of them started packing the gold ornaments placed inside the shop.
Acharya again started shouting for help. The miscreants, fearing that the public might come, opened the shutter and escaped on the motorbike. An investigation is underway. A case has been registered at Kota police station.