Axis Bank looted at gunpoint

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 16

As many as five unidentified persons today robbed an Axis Bank branch on the Chaugwan-Khasa road here after taking the staff into their custody. They decamped with Rs 2.40 lakh.

According to information, the armed robbers fired in the air immediately after barging into the bank premises by shattering the glass door. The unarmed security guard could do nothing before the armed looters.

The miscreants pulled out the DVR system of the CCTV cameras before escaping from the spot.

Senior police officials including SSP Parampal Singh reached the spot and started investigations. They were looking for CCTV cameras in the area in order to find clues about the robbers.

According to information, after entering the bank premises, the looters took the staff and the customers on a side and threatened to shoot them in case they raised their voice. They had covered their faces.

A preliminary probe revealed that looters came on two bikes. Four of them barged into the bank and took all the persons to a side on gun point. They reportedly shot a fire into the air, leading to panic among the customers and the staff members. They also threatened to shoot them. One of the robbers went into the cabin of the cashier and took out Rs 2.40 lakh. It is learnt that a staff member pressed the alarm, following which the accused fled but not before uprooting the digital video recorder of the CCTV camera installed inside the bank.

Questions are being raised over the unarmed private security guard, even as the police authorities had held a number of meetings with the bank authorities asking them to take appropriate security measures.

This is the second such incident in a month. Earlier, an all-women branch of Punjab National Bank on Loharka Road, falling under the city police area, was looted by armed miscreants. The police were yet to solve the case.

Parampal Singh Gandhi, SSP said police teams were scrutinising the CCTV cameras outside a school in front of the bank premises.