Burglary at Ambala bank, 24 lockers with jewellery, valuables emptied

Ambala, September 25

Burglars broke into the Ambala Central Cooperative Bank Ltd in Baldev Nagar area of Ambala City, cut open 32 lockers and decamped with jewellery and other valuables.

The bank employees came to know about the incident after they found the lockers ransacked this morning following which they alerted the police.

Bank was closed for two days

‘The bank was closed at 5 pm on September 22 and then it remained closed on September 23 and 24 due to the weekend. On Monday, around 9.40 am, I opened the bank and found a hole in a wall. The exact loss is being ascertained.’

Bhushan Lal Gupta, Branch Manager

As the news spread, locker holders started reaching the bank to check their valuables. The burglars had broken 32 lockers, of which 24 had jewellery, documents and other valuables. They also took away the DVRs of the CCTV with them.

Bhushan Lal Gupta, branch manager of the bank, said, “The bank was closed at 5 pm on September 22 and then it remained closed on September 23 and 24 due to the weekend. On Monday, around 9.40 am, when I opened the bank along with peon Ashwini Kumar, we found that some people had made a hole in a wall. They went into the locker room by cutting the RCC wall and opened the lockers with the help of the cutter. The exact loss is being ascertained.”

Sans alarm system, guard

‘There was no proper alarm system or guard in the bank. The burglars took advantage of the situation. An SIT has been constituted. We will write to the higher authorities of the bank regarding the lapse.’

Jashandeep Singh Randhawa, Ambala SP

A case has been registered under Sections 457 and 380 of the Indian Penal Code at the Baldev Nagar police station.

A list of broken lockers has been pasted outside the branch.

In the FIR, an amount of Rs 35 lakh, including gold worth Rs 33 lakh and silver worth Rs 2 lakh, has been mentioned as the value of the stolen items. However, the exact loss will be higher.

SHO Sandeep said, “Burglars broke 32 lockers and eight of these were empty. They took away the DVR of the CCTV as well. There were big bushes behind the bank and they took advantage of the same to gain entry into the bank. The bank is yet to give the details of exact loss. The lockers belong to different people and their statements will be recorded.”

Ambala SP Jashandeep Singh Randhawa said, “There was no proper alarm system or guard in the bank. The burglars took advantage of the situation. A special investigation team (SIT) under DSP (Headquarters) has been constituted. We are scrutinising CCTV footage of nearby areas and efforts are being made to trace the miscreants. We will write to the higher authorities of the bank regarding the lapse and ask them to install an alarm system and deploy guards.”