Armed Robbers looted over Rs.5 crore from a bank in Keonjhar district of Odisha during business hours on Monday. They fled with gold jewellery worth over Rs 5 crore and Rs 5 lakh cash. What’s shocking is that the bank had only two staff members and not a single security guard.
The robbery took place at the Bank of Maharashtra branch in Barbil town. Apart from gold jewellery weighing around 3.7 kg, the robbers also took away the CCTV digital video recorder of the bank that contained the robbery footage.
Bank Manager Pankaj Kumar Barnwal said the robbers pointed gun at his head and asked for the locker key. “As they started assaulting, we had to take them to the locker room. They took the packets of gold and cash,” he said.
According to police, five or six unidentified miscreants entered the bank, pulled out firearms and threatened the bank staff and customers. They took control of the premises and fled in motorcycles within 20 minutes.
The robbery took place between 1:55 pm to 2:15 pm. As per the bank staffers, the suspects were talking in both Hindi and Odia.
Police said the robbers are suspected to be from Jharkhand or Bihar and appeared to have all information about the branch.
The robberies in banks are increasing day by day but most of the banks have not yet deployed security guards in branches. Bank customers are worried about the safety and security of their jewellery kept in banks.
