E-Paper
Two on-the-run bank heist accused killed in encounters
The criminal gunned down in Lucknow identified as Bihar’s Chaargaon resident Sobind Kumar while the other one neutralised in Ghazipur was Sunny Dayal of Amaliya village in Bihar’s Munger district
LUCKNOW Two Bihar-based criminals, who along with five others allegedly executed a bank heist in Lucknow’s Chinhat area on Saturday-Sunday intervening night, were gunned down in separate encounters in Lucknow and Ghazipur on Monday night and the wee hours of Tuesday , said UP DGP Prashant Kumar.
The criminal gunned down in Lucknow was identified as Bihar’s Chaargaon resident Sobind Kumar while the other one neutralised in Ghazipur was Sunny Dayal of Amaliya village in Bihar’s Munger district. Both had criminal backgrounds, said the police chief.
Seven men, including six from Bihar who met in Punjab’s Jalandhar’s jail, were behind the sensational heist at the Chinhat branch of Indian Overseas Bank here. The criminals vanished with cash and valuables worth crores after breaking open the bank lockers.
Two of them were gunned down in encounters, three arrested on Monday after an encounter in Lucknow while efforts were on to arrest the remaining two still at large. So far, gold, silver and cash amounting to over ₹7 crore had been recovered from five criminals.
The Lucknow Police had an encounter with the accused Sobind Kumar in Chinhat near Kisan Path on Monday night. Gold and silver valuables worth ₹4.94 crore were recovered from his car in which he was travelling. Another person accompanying him managed to escape. The deceased had five criminal cases registered against him in Bihar, Punjab and Lucknow, said ADG (law and order) Amitabh Yash.
SP (Ghazipur) Iraj Raja said the second encounter happened in Ghazipur district when Sunny Dayal was trying to cross over the Bihar border. The police recovered around 1kg silver worth ₹1 lakh, a pistol, eight cartridges and a stolen motorcycle on which he was riding.
Three accused involved in the heist were arrested near Kisan Path in Laulai village of the Chinhat area on Monday after an encounter with the police. The trio was identified as Arvind Kumar, 22, Balram Kumar, 28, and Kailash Bind, 28. Valuables and cash worth ₹1.63 crore were recovered from them, said officials.
Joint commissioner of police (law & Order) Amit Verma revealed that there were 90 lockers in the bank and the accused were able to break 42 of them. “Of the 90 lockers, 70 were active, of which 42 were broken,” he said. The accused seemed to be professional cutters and had been preparing for a long time to execute the crime. They barged into the bank, and within a span of 3-4 hours, they broke open 42 lockers and decamped with the booty, he added.
The JCP said there were several lapses in the bank’s security, due to which the men could easily enter the bank. “We found that there was not a single watchman in the bank during night time. Out of seven CCTVs, only two were said to be in working condition. The bank was not following many of the SOPs, which a locker facility bank has to follow, including walls with iron beams,” he added.
