Rs 30 lakh looted from Gramin Bank in Ara

ARA/PATNA: Armed robbers looted Rs 30.3 lakh in cash from the South Bihar Gramin Bank under Nawada police station in Bhojpur district on Monday. The incident took place barely three hours after a loot of Rs 7.4 lakh was reported by a businessman at Dehri-on-Sone in neighbouring Rohtas district.

Police said around half a dozen armed criminals barged into the Bazar Samiti branch of the South Bihar Gramin Bank around 1.45 pm and held the bank employees and customers at gun point.

They brutally assaulted the manager of the bank Dinesh Prasad with revolver butts when he delayed in handing over the keys of the chest. The robbers who were in the age group of 20 and 25 years had locked all employees and customers in a room before opening the locks of the chest where cash was kept.

The operation continued for almost half an hour but the policemen deployed at the nearby police check post at Bazar Samiti have no inking of the incident.

Bhojpur SP Sushil Kumar said while five robbers had covered their faces with ‘gamchha’, the sixth one had left his face uncovered. “Initially the loot of an exaggerated amount of Rs.56 lakh was flashed but during police verification it came to Rs.30.27 lakh,” the SP said, adding that CCTV footage was being obtained to ascertain the identity of the criminals.

The SP, however, didn’t rule out the involvement of some more robbers in the incident. “Some more criminals may have been waiting outside the bank. But it is being verified. The police officials are already on their job and the case will be cracked soon,” the SP said.

Locals claimed that the robbers left on an SUV parked outside the bank. They also fired in the air to scare away local residents. “This is one of the biggest robberies in bank in Bhojpur in recent past,” said a local resident.

The Nawada police station SHO Sanjay Kumar said the statement of the bank manager Dinesh Prasad had been recorded and an FIR lodged in connection with the incident.

Barely three hours ago, a gang of armed criminals looted Rs.7.44 lakh from a trader at Dehri-on-Sone under the town police station in Rohtas district. The police have, however, failed to make any headway in any of the two incidents reported on Monday.