Stranger pulls trick on petrol station owner, steals Rs 4.45L

An unidentified man stole Rs 4.45 lakh in cash from the car of a petrol station owner by diverting his attention at Vijayapura Cross under Devanahalli police station limits on Thursday.

Ranjith, the petrol station owner from Karahalli, had withdrawn the money from a branch of Bank of India around 1.30 pm. He then moved towards his car parked a few metres away, kept the bag of cash in the front seat and sat at the wheel. Just then, the unidentified man approached him and said some currency notes were lying on the ground, the police said.

Ranjith quickly fell for his trick and bent down to pick up the “notes”. But the thief was too smart. He lost no time in stealing the bag and vanished. Ranjith got confused when he did not find any notes, but he didn’t notice the man pulling the trick on him.

Ranjith came to his senses only when a passerby, who saw the suspect running away, alerted him. But by the time he could raise an alarm, the thief was out of sight.

A senior police officer said, “Ranjith has made a complaint to us. He described the man as well-built and aged 28-30.

“Unfortunately, there are no CCTV cameras at the spot. We are trying to trace him. A case has been registered.”