In a pre-dawn heist, a four-member gang looted a goldsmithy and decamped with 1 kg of gold and ornaments after beating a worker. The incident happened at Kempatti colony in the city today.

Nagaraj and Saravanakumar were working overnight in the unit and the latter went out to bring tea around 3.30 am when the incident happened, police said.

A four-member gang entered the workshop and sprinkled chilli powder in Nagaraj’s eyes, though he tried hard to resist them. After beating him, the gang fled with nearly the gold and ornaments, they said.

Saravanakumar noticed Nagaraj lying unconscious and informed the owner, who in turn alerted the police. Fingerprint experts and a sniffer dog were pressed into service, police said.

As there was a CCTV near the workshop, police are trying to get the footage to identify the robbers.