Criminals loot over Rs 5 lakh from bank, assault customers

Alok Mishra

Patna: In a daring incident, armed criminals looted over Rs 5 lakh cash from Bhadoa branch of Madhya Bihar Gramin Bank (MBGB) under Rafiganj police station in Aurangabad district on Wednesday. They also roughed up some of the customers. Five criminals riding two motorcycles reached the bank at around 11.30 am. While one waited outside the bank keeping an eye on the movement of the people, other four entered the bank.

The customers said that the criminals made the bank employees hostage at gun point and then locked them inside a room. Though some of the customers tried to resist the loot attempt, they were beaten by the criminals, they said adding that the criminals also snatched the cellphones of the customers to ensure they did not alert the local police.

The criminals then called manager and cashier of the bank and asked them to open the cash vault. After that the criminals took away over Rs. 5 lakh cash and escaped from brandishing their pistols. They also took away the hard disc of the CCTV camera installed in the bank, said a bank employee. As the news of the cash loot from a bank reached the district headquarters, Aurangabad SP Satyaprakash reached the spot and talked to the bank employees. He said that raids were on to arrest those involved in cash loot.