₹17.85 lakh looted from UCO Bank in Punjab’s Ghanaur

Chamkaur Singh, a sarpanch of village Manjoli said that he was at the cash counter to deposit ₹2.20 lakh when the accused entered and took away all the cash. Around ₹15.65 lakh was looted from the bank cashier

Three unidentified miscreants on Monday looted ₹17.85 lakh from the UCO Bank branch in Ghanaur, situated just 200m away from the police station, in broad daylight. The masked persons held bank officials and customers hostage at gunpoint.

Representational image.

The incident happened at around 3:45 pm, and the trio later escaped on a bullet motorcycle of a customer, which was later found abandoned on a nearby road. The accused committed the crime within 10 minutes and fled the scene. The police sealed the area but hadn’t made any breakthrough till the filing of this report. The police were now searching CCTV footage to identify the miscreants.

According to DSP Raghbir Singh, three masked men entered the bank, held bank officials hostage at gunpoint and looted the bank. “A case has been registered on the statement of the bank manager and police have been alerted to nab the accused. The accused seems to have fled in a car toward Haryana and neighbouring state police have also been alerted,” he said.

Chamkaur Singh, a sarpanch of village Manjoli said that he was at the cash counter to deposit ₹2.20 lakh when the accused entered and took away all the cash. Around ₹15.65 lakh was looted from the bank cashier.

Naresh Kumar, another customer whose brand-new bullet the miscreants used as an initial escape vehicle, said that he was in the bank to deposit the cheque. “The accused entered the bank and took all employees and customers hostage at gunpoint. The accused, after snatching the cash from the cashier, took away my brand-new bullet motorcycle to flee from the spot,” he said.

This is a second such incident in the Ghanaur area wherein a week back thieves stole ₹6 lakh from another bank.