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Thieves drill hole in Ambala bank wall, take away valuables in lockers
Heist believed to have taken place over the weekend when bank was closed, added trouble for investigators as no record of what was kept in lockers
In a meticulously planned heist, thieves drilled a hole into the wall of The Ambala Central Co-Operative Bank Ltd’s Baldev Nagar branch on Naraingarh road and decamped with gold and silver ornaments worth lakhs of rupees after cutting at least 32 lockers inside the strongroom.
The theft is believed to have taken place over the weekend, when the bank was closed, but it came to the fore on Monday when the branch manager Bhushan Lal Gupta entered the building with his peon Ashwani Kumar around 9:40 am.
Though the bank authorities have not been able to quantify the loss, the FIR mentions it to be over ₹35 lakh. Superintendent of police (SP) Jashandeep Singh Randhawa maintained that the loss is yet to be quantified.
A cop involved in the probe said that the thieves appear to have removed the bricks of the wall to get into the building and then used a drill machine on Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) wall to further enter the strongroom.
Bank manager Bhushan Lal said, “A cutter was also used to cut the iron rods and 32 out of the total 160 lockers in the room. They also took away all the CCTV cameras and a DVR along with them. On the estimated loss, a list will be prepared based on the figures and items to be submitted by the locker holders.”
Deputy superintendent of police (DSP, headquarters) Ramesh Kumar said that as per the bank records, out of the 32 lockers, eight were lying unused.
Speaking to the media, one of the locker holders, Amarinder Singh, said that earlier they were not allowed to enter the bank as a police probe was underway and later, a list was pasted outside the bank specifying the locker numbers that were broken into. “The bank authorities have no answer to those who have lost their valuables. It is highly irresponsible of the bank as they failed to secure the belongings kept there in good faith,” Singh said.
Sources said it would be a tricky task for the bank authorities as well as the police to quantify the loss as there are no written records with any of them on what was kept in the lockers and of what value.
Investigators have also pointed out a security lapse on part of the bank as there was no siren inside the strongroom to alert the authorities in case of a breach. The DVR was also kept in open, which was taken away by the thieves.
The bank manager, however, said there is no lapse on part of the bank and they have enough security arrangements in the branch. Besides, since there is no ATM service, there is a guard on duty only during banking hours.
SP Randhawa said an SIT under deputy superintendent of police Kumar, with members from CIA-1, cyber cell and Baldev Nagar police station has been constituted to probe the matter.
