Robbers loot Rs 11 lakh at gun point in Bhubaneswar

--Nayagarh UCO Bank robbed of Rs 12 L

BHUBANESWAR/NAYAGARH: Two incidents of loot took place in broad daylight on Thursday involving around Rs 24 lakh; one in the city here and the other in Nayagarh district. 

In a daring act, two robbers came on an Activa scooter; intercepted a car near Khandagiri in which a cashier of the Sum Hospital was going to deposit cash worth Rs 11 lakh in the Punjab National Bank branch at Khandagiri. When the driver didn’t stop the vehicle, the miscreants opened fire at it. 

 

As soon as the car screeched to a halt at Jaydev Batika Square, the robbers came near it and snatched away a money bag containing the cash from cashier Hiralal Das and fled the spot. 

After getting information about the incident, the Khandagiri police rushed to the spot and started a manhunt to nab the culprits. A case was registered in this connection. The police recovered three live bullets from the spot. 

Sources said that a police team led by Bhubaneswar DCP Nitinjit Singh interrogated driver of the car Somanath Behera and cashier Das concerning the loot. 

Similarly, another loot incident took place in Nayagarh district on Thursday afternoon. Three dacoits looted UCO Bank branch at Nandighore under Odagan block of Rs 12 lakh. 

The bike-borne dacoits arrived at the bank at 12.47pm and barged into the bank to loot it. They first smashed the CCTV cameras inside and later created terror in the bank premises after attacking bank manager Padma Charan Machhua with a stick. 

The miscreants took away Rs 3 lakh from the cash counter and Rs 9, 47,154 from the bank’s locker, whose keys they got by terrorizing the manager, before decamping from the spot.

Odagan police rushed to the bank to investigate into the matter. Later, Nayagarh SP Bhagyadhar Behera reached the spot to take stock of the situation. Police have launched a manhunt to nab the dacoits, the SP said.