₹18 lakh stolen from Cooperative Bank’s strong room in Mohali’s Gharuan

Police said no security guard was deputed outside the bank, located near the Gharuan bus stand, when the theft took place

Thieves broke into the strong room of a Cooperative Bank branch in Gharuan and decamped with ₹18 lakh in cash on the intervening night between Wednesday and Thursday.

The thieves broke the locks of the bank’s shutter and then the wall of the strong room to steal the cash, the branch manager told the Mohali police. (HT Photo)

Police said no security guard was deputed outside the bank, located near the Gharuan bus stand, when the theft took place.

In his complaint to the police, branch manager Tejpal Singh said the thieves entered the bank after breaking the locks of the shutter using an electric cutter. Once inside, they demolished a part of the strong room’s wall and stole ₹18 lakh in cash. Before fleeing, they also took away the DVR of the bank’s CCTV cameras.

Investigators said as per the footage from the CCTV camera at the office of a property dealer near the bank, two of the thieves entered the bank around 12 am, while two more stood guard outside.

They said the thieves appeared to have used the bank’s power meter to operate the electric cutter to break open the locks and metal shutter. They broke in with complete planning and remained in the bank for around four hours before leaving at 3.45 am.

Mohali senior superintendent of police (SSP) Vivek Sheel Soni said police had lodged an FIR at the Gharuan police post on the complaint of the branch manager and launched a probe to nab the thieves.