Panchkula, May 15
It took four armed young men barely 10 minutes on Friday afternoon to rob a State Bank of India ( SBI) branch in Panchkula of Rs. 11 lakh. The ordeal for the bank staff and customers, held hostage at gun-point, did not last long because the gang panicked at the sound of the hooter from an approaching police patrol vehicle. But the patrolling vehicle failed to intercept the Sports Utility Vehicle ( SUV) in which the miscreants escaped.
The SBI branch situated in the Sector 20 market on Zirakpur-Kalka road had no security guard. The hooter installed in the bank for precisely such emergencies failed to function. And even the CCTV camera turned out to be inadequate because the miscreants, who appear to have surveyed the bank earlier, had masked their face with handkerchieves and were sporting sunglasses to hide the eyes.
One of the hostages breaks down after being released. Tribune photo: Manoj Mahajan |
The miscreants found it convenient because the branch occupies the back of the market and is close to the highway. A row of trees obstruct the view of the bank from the highway and of the highway from the bank.
While escaping, the miscreants took off the handkerchieves from their face and casually drove away. The police patrol drove past them but did not stop. This was the moment when bank staff tried to switch on the hooter which failed to work. Had the hooter worked, the police patrol could possibly have intercepted the miscreants. Ironically, the same patrol van took a U-turn and returned after hearing the alarm raised by the bank staff. But by the time they grasped the details, precious minutes had been lost and even eyewitnesses were confused about the car used by the miscreants and the direction they took to escape.
The miscreants made a dramatic entry into the bank a minute or two past 12 Noon, firing in the air and asking people present in the bank to raise their arms, recalled Pravesh Gandhi, the cashier. One of them had a turban on his head while the rest had put on caps. An accomplice apparently waited for them in the car outside, enabling the gang to disappear in no time.
While the six bank employees were forced to sit on the floor at gun-point, the dozen or so customers were led to the basement and held hostage. Two of the miscreants took up position near the entrance while their companions collected the currency from the two cash counters.
When the manager of the bank, Balbir Singh, tried to make a call from his mobile phone, the miscreants threatened to shoot him but relented after other employees offered to cooperate and pleaded for mercy. After collecting the cash lying at the counters, they sought keys to the strongroom. The cashier, however, displayed presence of mind and handed over only one of the two keys to the strongroom, claiming that the other key was with an officer who had gone to another branch on an official errand.
Her presence of mind saved at least Rs 21 lakh lying in the safe vault of the branch. According to the branch manager, the miscreants managed to escape with Rs 11,32,259 in cash.
Superintendent of Police Amitabh Dhilon said a case of dacotiy was registered against five unidentified persons.
