Criminals loot Rs 50 lakh from UCO Bank

SAMASTIPUR: Unidentified criminals looted around Rs 50 lakh from a UCO Bank branch here soon after the bank opened on Thursday morning.
Police sources said they held the employees and customers at gunpoint and decamped with nearly Rs 50 lakh kept in the cash box. The incident took place at around 10.30 am when motorcycle-borne robbers, said to be about 10 in number, struck at the UCO Bank in the town's Gola Road area. They also fired in the air to scare away people.

A police official said that according to information provided by the bank employees and locals, four criminals, who had covered their faces, entered the bank and threatened the cashiers— Anil Kumar and Ankur Kumar—and snatched the bunch of keys. They then opened the cash chest room and took out the money kept there amounting to Rs 50 lakh.

"During the loot, the miscreants also tried to strangulate a woman employee Jyoti, when she tried to protest. While four criminals entered the bank armed with pistols, their accomplices waited outside," added the official.

Bank sources said all the employees and customers were forced to sit on the floor with their heads down. The criminals remained inside the bank for at least 20 minutes and thereafter left with the booty on motorcycles. They also took away the hard disk of the CCTV camera installed in the bank.

Samastipur SP Dipak Ranjan, who also reached the bank, said police have got some vital information and footages of CCTV cameras installed at nearby shops were being examined to identify the culprits. It was surprising that no security guard was deputed on the bank premises when the loot took place, said the SP.

Bank sources said an internal probe has also been initiated and zonal manager Dilip Kumar Rathore and deputy zonal manager M K Singh have arrived here.