Police said in the first incident, two to three unidentified gunmen with their faces covered, believed to be militants, broke into a branch of Ellaquai Dehati Bank at Wahibugh, Pulwama, 32 kms from here, at arounf 1.50 pm and took away approximately Rs 5 lakh cash from the counter. The militants did not harm anybody physically. The bank has no surveillance cameras. PTI file photo
For the second consecutive day, militants continued to target banks in the Valley looting Rs 6.33 lakh from two banks in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Wednesday.
Police said in the first incident, two to three unidentified gunmen with their faces covered, believed to be militants, broke into a branch of Ellaquai Dehati Bank at Wahibugh, Pulwama, 32 kms from here, at arounf 1.50 pm and took away approximately Rs 5 lakh cash from the counter. The militants did not harm anybody physically. The bank has no surveillance cameras.
Just two hours later, militants targeted a branch of the Jammu and Kashmir Bank at Nehama and looted of Rs 1.33 lakh, police said. Police have launched a hunt for the bank robbers.
On Tuesday, militants had looted Rs 65,000 from Ellaquai Dehati Bank’s Kader branch in neighbouring Shopian district. Prior to that on Monday, five policemen and two security guards were killed after militants attacked a cash van of Jammu and Kashmir Bank in Kulgam district.
The militants took away five service rifles of the slain cops. However, there was no cash in the van at the time of the incident, as it had already been deposited at Manzgam branch of the Bank. Indigenous Hizb-ul-Mujahideen outfit had claimed responsibility for the attack but denied killing the bank guards.
Meanwhile, Police on Wednesday announced a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh for information on Umer Majid, a Hizb commander blamed for Monday’s killings. Reports said posters of Majid were pasted on the walls of Kulgam market, 70 km from here, announcing the cash reward.
Police said 22-year-old Majid, who hails from Soach village of Kulgam district, was identified with the help of some locals as well as the driver of the treasury van that came under attack on May 1 in Kulgam.
Kashmir has witnessed a surge in bank looting cases ever since demonetization of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8 last year. There have been nearly a dozen bank robberies in Kashmir especially in the southern districts since last November.