LONAVLA: A gang of armed robbers, which had attempted to rob truck drivers on the Pune-Mumbai highway late on Tuesday night, successfully resisted attempts of police personnel to nab them and escaped after snatching away service pistol of a Sub-Inspector.

The incident took place at a poultry farm located at Shilatane, Maval. The chase by the police team proved futile as the robbers fired shots and fled towards a nearby mountain. No police personnel was injured in the incident.

Police teams on Wednesday launched a hunt to nab the robbers and to secure the stolen pistol, but were not successful.

The Lonavla rural police station was alerted that a gang of robbers was looting truck drivers on the Pune-Mumbai highway.

Police Sub-Inspector Nitin Thakare rushed to the spot along with a team. The robbers, however, attacked the police personnel with stones. PSI Thakare attempted to fire from his pistol. However, he failed in his attempt as the weapon got locked. During the subsequent clash, one of the robbers managed to snatch the pistol and the gang fled from the scene. The police team tried to chase the gang but gave up when the robbers disappeared taking advantage of darkness. 

Later, traffic police sub-inspector S D Randive visited the site of the incident and a fresh drive was launched to trace the culprits. District Superintendent of Police Pratap Dighavkar, Additional  Police Superintendent Ramnath Pokle and local CID Police Inspector Bhausaheb Andhalkar rushed to the site on Tuesday night to supervise the search operations. The police also took help of local residents and volunteers of Gram Suraksha Dal to conduct search drive near Karla, Wehergaon, Shilatane but in vain. On Wednesday morning, the search was resumed.

Police suspect that the gang of robbers may be carrying country-made revolvers. The gang had fired four rounds at the police team while fleeing towards a nearby mountain.