Armed men loot Rs 40 lakh from Balasore bank

Balasore: In a daring daylight heist, armed miscreants looted Rs 40 lakh from Srirampur branch of State Bank of India (SBI) at gunpoint on Thursday. Police said the miscreants armed with firearms arrived at the bank at Srirampur village under Basta police station of Balasore district at around 2pm.

Police said the robbers, who had put on college uniforms, barged into the branch as there was no security personnel at the entrance and held all bank employees hostage before decamping with the amount.

An eyewitness said about six armed miscreants entered the bank and started thrashing bank employees. “The masked miscreants were speaking in Bengali and locked us inside before escaping from the spot. They also took away a mobile phone of a customer,” he added.

They forcibly took the keys of the strongroom and looted Rs 40 lakh. Before fleeing the spot on two motorcycles, the robbers locked the bank from outside, he said.

On being informed, Basta and Rupsa police reached the spot and initiated investigation.

As many as four bombs, one gas cutter and a gun were recovered from the spot.

A case has been registered and police have launched a manhunt to nab the robbers.

“All escape routes have been sealed and an alert has been sounded in the area. Police officials of neighbouring police stations have been informed about the dacoity. We are verifying details to get leads of the loot,” Ranjit Prusty, SDPO, Basta, said.