3 gunned down outside ATM in Lucknow, Rs 50 lakh looted

Lucknow, February 27

In a brazen attack, two masked assailants on Friday shot dead three persons carrying bank money in a busy commercial area here and decamped with Rs 50 lakh after opening fire to scare away shocked onlookers, police said.

The criminals came on a motorcycle around noon when cash was about to be loaded in an ATM of a private bank in Babuganj locality in Hasanganj area close to Lucknow University campus, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Yashasvi Yadav said.

The duo opened fire indiscriminately from point blank range at three persons, including two private guards. Two persons died on the spot, while another died in hospital during treatment, he said.

The deceased were identified as Anil Singh (40), Arun Kumar (45) and Avinash Shukla (35).

Taking serious note of the incident, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav directed Director General of Police (DGP) A K Jain to personally monitor the progress in the investigation and ensure that the case be cracked within 15 days and the money is recovered.

He also announced compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of the deceased.

Dazed witnesses said they heard a burst of gun shots and before they could realise what had happened, the criminals fled on the motorcyle.

The incident sent shock waves across the state capital as it came at a time when 'Police Week', organised by UP Indian Police Service (IPS) Association, began today.

As panic gripped the area, police swung into action and cordoned off the entire place and constituted 16 teams to track down the culprits.

"We have taken the incident as a challenge and formed 16 teams to work on different angles to crack the case. Some valuable camera feed have been obtained. We are working on it," the SSP said.

IG Zaqi Ahmed, DIG R K Chaturvedi and the SSP besides other senior officers rushed to the spot.

Gory pictures of the three bullet riddled bodies went viral on news channels which also showed one of them lying inside the ATM in a pool of blood with wads of currency notes in the denomination of Rs 500 lying next to him.

Meanwhile, BJP termed the incident as failure on the part of Samajwadi Party government with regard to law and order.

"The incident has exposed tall claims of SP government on law and order. The state capital, where Chief Minister and senior officers stay, is witnessing such incidents. One can imagine the situation at district level then," BJP state president Laxmikant Bajpai said.

He said that despite having CCTV footage of the incident, the Chief Minister has given 15 days time to police and that is laughable, and demanded immediate arrest of those involved in the incident and action against lax police officers. — PTI