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Electronic cutter, proper planning, fragile security—The anatomy of a bank heist
The seven entered the building after punching a hole in a wall that opened into a vacant plot, and easily exited from another hole, police officials said.
At least one of the seven men who robbed a bank in the state capital had surveyed its premises and used the security inconsistencies to chalk out a ‘near-perfect’ heist, police sources said.
After two days of them breaking into the locker room of Indian Overseas Bank’s Chinhat branch and vanishing with cash and other valuables thought to be worth crores of rupees, three of the seven men had been caught and two others were shot down in an encounter even as a search for two more was still on.
HT visited the crime scene in search of clues regarding how the brazen robbery was committed.
In the wee hours of Sunday, the thieves punctured through two walls, at least one of which was left unplastered, on separate sides of the building that houses the bank.
Despite the branch’s prime location, in the service lane of Ayodhya Road near the Matiyari flyover, no resident had a hint of the robbery until a couple of hours later.
A senior police official said the thieves jumped a compound wall and entered the building from the hole that opened into a vacant plot of 15,000 square feet that was covered with bushes. They easily exited from the back of the building, he said.
A police source said the holes were 2.5 feet wide and an electronic cutter was used to breach the bank. “The cutter was bought in Lucknow only two days before the incident. To draw electricity, a power source from an adjoining plot was used. Later, the same cutter was used to break the lockers,” said a senior police official.
The cop added that the sequence of events highlighted the critical lapses in both structural safety and security measures of the bank building. “The damaged brick wall and lack of streetlights also raise serious concerns about the bank’s preparedness to prevent such crimes,” he added.
“In all likelihood, the thieves entered from a wall that is poorly constructed and is surrounded by bushes. They targeted the bank on Sunday early hours and breached through a simple brick wall,” said a source privy to the development.
The officials said the bushes and trees on the vacant plot must have prevented anyone from spotting them cutting the wall. “The plot had only a small gate and a low boundary wall, making it easy for them to jump over. A police team, along with a dog squad, reached the scene after the incident was reported. A resident called it in after he spotted a hole in the back wall of the bank on Sunday morning. The thieves cut through another poorly constructed wall, located on the back side, to exit.
Investigators suspected that the lack of streetlights in the locality where the bank is located allowed the thieves to flee without drawing attention.
Why no one could hear the break-in?
Shopkeepers and others who live near the bank stated that they were unaware of the break-in because of the constant noise from the Ayodhya Road that ran parallel to the bank near Chinhat Crossing. “We couldn’t hear the wall being demolished because of the highway noise,” a shopkeeper explained. “We never expected such an incident as the bank has advanced and upgraded security systems.”
Accused performed recce
A police investigator said the sequence of events suggested that at least one of the seven accused might have visited the bank to do a recce. One of the two accused, Vipin Kumar Verma, still at large is suspected to be from Lucknow. Verma is suspected to have planned the conspiracy.
Verma was lodged with Kailash Bind and other accused in Jalandhar jail, and both Verma and Bind were given bail recently. “Vipin returned to Lucknow and informed Kailash about the bank. Kailash may have then roped in other members of the gang, who were experts in heists.”
