Bihar: 14 bank robberies in 7 months leave cops red-faced

PATNA: Altogether 14 banks have been looted in the state since January this year till August 7, the latest being the loot of when Rs16.76 lakh from the Bank of India branch at Musrigharari in Samastipur. There had also been one unsuccessful attempt to loot PNB branch at Bakhri in Begusarai on January 7.
Overall, Rs2.56 crore of public money has been looted from the banks in the last seven months.
The maximum four bank loot cases happened in Samastipur, losing Rs31.44 lakh, followed by three in Muzaffarpur (Rs28.59 lakh), two in Vaishali (Rs1.66 crore) and one each in Bhojpur, Munger, Nawada, Begusarai and West Champaran where Rs2.48 lakh, Rs5.54 lakh, Rs14.35 lakh, Rs5.85 lakh and Rs1.98 lakh were looted, respectively.
When contacted, Samastipur SP Manavjit Singh Dhillon said police had recovered the Rs7.79 lakh looted from the Tajpur branch of SBI on May 19 and Rs1.16 lakh from the Canara Bank branch at Bikrampur Bande on April 29. “Eleven persons of a gang involved in both the cases were arrested. The same gang had looted Rs1.19 crore from the HDFC Bank main branch at Hajipur in Vaishali on June 10,” he said.
Dhillon said two persons hade been arrested and two were evading arrest in the Rs 5.29 lakh loot from the SBI branch at Jitwarpur Chouth on March 3. “We are investigating the Rs16.76 lakh loot on Saturday,” he added.
Vaishali SP Maneesh, when contacted, said more than Rs1.02 crore looted from the in the HDFC Bank had been recovered. “All the accused, who were also involved in the Samastipur bank loot cases, are arrested,” he said.
He said at least ten persons have been arrested for looting Rs 47.54 lakh from the Axis bank branch at Kanchanpur under Bidupur police station area on January 28. “However, only around Rs6-7 lakh of the looted money could be recovered,” the SP said.
He said the criminals spent money on enjoying as they are youngsters with no history of involvement in such loot cases in the past
Muzaffarpur SSP Jayant Kant could not be contacted on the three bank heists as he disconnected the call.
Besides the bank dacoity and loot cases, criminals have also successfully targeted non-banking financial firms and ATM kiosks across the state from where they have decamped with huge amount of money.
The criminals looted Rs7.32 lakh from Utkarsh Small Finance Bank at Nandan village under Dumraon police station area in Buxar and 2kg gold ornaments worth around Rs93 lakh and Rs3.36 lakh in cash from Ashirvaad gold loan firm at Wazirganj market in Gaya on August 3. These two loots on a single day alone amounted to Rs1.03 crore.