BHANDARA: Three armed robbers killed a money lender in his house and stole 15kg of gold ornaments worth Rs 4.5 crore but had to abandon it after being hounded by pack of stray dogs in Maharashtra’s Bhandara district.

On Monday between 10 pm and 10.30 pm three youths in the age group of 25-30 years barged into Hiralal Hedau (63) house where he used to stay alone. They thrashed Hedau and then stabbed him. He bled to death in his own courtyard.

The robbers then entered the house and stuffed into a gunny bag with the gold ornaments.

While they were trying get away, they were stopped by a police constable Sagar Bhande on patrolling duty who questioned them. They attacked him & fled.

Bhande then rushed to get backup. The robbers in the meantime were chased by a pack of stray dogs. Finding it difficult to run with the heavy bag, they ditched it and fled from the spot under the cover of darkness.

Hedau body was noticed on Tuesday. A woman from the neighbourhood first noticed the bag and two gold ornaments lying on the road. She told her husband who informed Tumsar panchayat samiti chairperson Kalam Sheikh. Sheikh called the police who took possession of the gunny bag and found the ornaments. They went to Hedau’s place and found his body lying in a pool of blood.

Additional SP Vasant Jadhav said that investigations had already begun and three teams had fanned out in nearby areas in search of the accused.

