KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, Aug 18: In a daredevil act, a gang of armed criminals decamped with cash from the cash section of Bank of India’s Ulidih branch in Mango this morning.
About half-a-dozen criminals, who had covered their faces had taken the bank officials as well as the customers hostage before emptying the stock of cash, sending the district police into a tizzy.
The sensational robbery took place at the Bank of India’s branch located on Dimna Road at busy hours like 10.30 am. The area remains bustling with people throughout the day, especially during the first hours of the day.
The criminals swooped over the bank posing as customers but had covered their faces with scarves while committing the robbery.
Having entered the bank premises, the crime had taken the bank officials as well as the customers under control by training pistols. They had then snatched mobile phones from all those inside the premises and subsequently drove them all into a room. Soon they collected the entire stock of cash from the cash section and fled the scene.
The criminals executed the robbery in such alacrity that none of the bank officials could do anything to alert the police. The management of the branch had informed the police only after the robbers had fled the spot.
OC of Ulidih police station, Meghnath Mandal who was first to reach the spot, confirmed the robbery.
“There has been a robbery in the Bank of India’s branch here. We do not know how much money has gone. The branch management is ascertaining the amount robbed,” said Mandal while talking to lagatar24.com.
The OC said they are trying to get CCTV footage of the crime scene to detect the case.
Soon after senior police officers, including City SP, K Vijay Shankar reached the spot and started investigating the incident. The police have also started a frantic search operation having sealed the exit points of the city.
The police, as well as the bank officials, are busy in their work during this hour of emergency and several questions like whether there was any armed guard in the bank or if anyone was injured during the robbery remained unanswered.
Significantly, such daring robbery was not witnessed in the steel city during the past one decade. Earlier, almost a decade ago, criminals had decamped with gold ornaments worth over Rs one crore from the office of Muthoot Finance at Mango and the case is still undetected.
