In a broad daylight robbery, unidentified armed men looted ₹16 lakh cash and gold worth ₹15 lakh from Chakai branch of the State Bank of India (SBI) in Bihar’s Jamui district on Tuesday, police said. This is the sixth incident of major cash loot in the state within 45 days.
Police said that a gang of armed robbers committed the crime after injuring the bank cashier and assaulting the branch manager who resisted their attempt. Police have been unable to trace the whereabouts of the robbers so far and the search is still on.
The incident took place at 9.40am, barely 250 metres from the Chakai police station of the district. Police said that a gang of at least six armed men entered the branch located on the first floor at the busiest Bus stand Road and took everyone including the branch manager and customers hostage at gunpoint.
Police said that the armed dacoits entered the branch when bank premises were being cleaned by sweepers. The branch manager was locked in the bathroom while main gate of the branch was also bolted from the inside.
The mask wearing miscreants arrived at the spot on their vehicles and six of them entered the bank premises in the garb of customers. The robbers started pressuring the cashier for giving keys to open the locked iron vault.
Police said that the robbers barely took 10 to 12 minutes to rob the bank and fled. Before leaving with the cash, the criminals took DVR of CCTVs. Jamui SP Shaurya Suman said a forensic science laboratory (FSL) team reached the spot and inquired the incident. “District border was sealed soon after receiving information about the loot. Intensive raids are going on to nab the suspects involved in the incident,” he added.
The SP added that the police team are trying to identify the robbers through CCTV footages installed near the branch. Earlier on April 13, armed robbers killed two home guard jawans and looted ₹14 lakh from the Sonepur branch of the Punjab National Bank (PNB), barely 200 metres from the local police station area.