DOMBIVLI: Six policemen armed with lathis put up a tough fight against four armed robbers in Dombivli (E) in a drama that lasted for 20 minutes on Friday.

While the burglary attempt was foiled, the unidentified men escaped in a tempo after threatening its driver, the cops said. The incident happened around 4am on Friday after Gaurav Mane, a resident of Ayodhya Nagari Complex in Dombivli (E), spotted the robbers entering the building. Mane called up the police after which six personnel from Tilak Nagar police station arrived there.

The policemen, who split in two groups, entered the building through different entrances. Constable Namdar Thakare caught one of the robbers but his aide attacked the cop with a chopper. Thakare narrowly escaped after assistant sub-inspector Ishaq Shaikh pushed him away. A man then fired at Shaikh. "Since Shaikh ducked down, the bullet missed him," said a police officer.

After hearing the gunshots, the second police team came to the rescue of Thakare and Shaikh. "A man fired at constable Vishwash Chavan but he was saved by another constable Subhash Nalavade who then hurled a stone at the assailant," the officer added.

"The men lost their nerve and fled leaving their car behind. They asked a tempo driver to alight from his vehicle and escaped," he added.

A policeman, Sanjay Nimbalkar who arrived at the scene, tried to intercept the vehicle but the robbers fired two rounds at him. "We have registered a case of attempt to murder, assault, robbery against the four unidentified men," said Rajan Ghule, assistant commissioner of police (Dombivli region). "We have prepared their sketches and will dispatch them to all police stations. Their getaway vehicle that was seized had been stolen from Virar on December1," he added.

