Rs9.20 lakh looted from Saran, Banka banks

Chhapra/Patna: Armed criminals on Tuesday looted Rs9.20 lakh from two banks in Saran and Banka districts. Six armed miscreants looted Rs6 lakh from the Chhitrawalia branch of North Bihar Regional Rural Bank under the Ekma police station area in Saran district.
In another incident, four armed men looted Rs3.20 lakh from the Canara Bank branch at Kateli Mor under the Banka police station area in Banka district.The criminals struck within a couple of minutes after the police on patrol left the bank premises following regular inspection.
Eyewitnesses said the miscreants on three bikes reached the Chhitrawalia branch at about 1pm. Four of them entered the premises while two remained outside on guard. They overpowered branch manager Bimlendu Pandey, other staff and customers and looted the cash before fleeing on their bikes.
Saran SP Pankaj Kumar Raj said the criminals would be arrested very soon. It may be recalled that Rs1.25 crore was looted from a PNB cash van in Baniapur area besides several incidents of loot from petrol pumps, service centres of banks took place in the district recently.
Banka SDPO Shashi Shankar Kumar said the criminals entered the Canara Bank branch at 12.06pm. “All the dacoits were armed with country-made weapons and forced the manager to open the bank chest in which Rs2.72 lakh was kept. They also looted the cash from the cashier’s counter,” the SDPO said. The incident was recorded in the CCTV camera, he added.
A local businessman, Raghunandan Chaudhary, was injured when he grabbed two of the criminals who were trying to flee on foot after firing in the air, the SDPO said. “Two of the dacoits fled on a bike while two others carrying the cash walked away,” the SDPO said.