Masked men rob bank in Delhi, public and cops catch one of them and recover loot

In one instance in outer Delhi’s Chhawla in October, robbers gunned down a cashier to make away with R 3.2 lakh cash. In March this year, a man used an air pistol to nearly pull off a R40 lakh robbery from a bank in Rohini.

Two masked men carrying pistols and knives almost pulled off a robbery at a bank in east Delhi’s Farsh Bazar on Thursday afternoon before the public and police chased and caught one of them.

Two masked men carrying pistols and knives almost pulled off a robbery at a bank in east Delhi’s Farsh Bazar on Thursday afternoon before the public and police chased and caught one of them. (Representative Image)

During their 10-15 minute stay inside Central Bank of India, the two robbers grabbed R 8.89 lakh belonging to two customers who were depositing the money, Amit Sharma, deputy commissioner of police (Shadara), said. “We recovered the entire robbed cash from the arrested robber,” the DCP said.

This is the fourth known bank robbery attempt in the national capital since last October.

In one instance in outer Delhi’s Chhawla in October, robbers gunned down a cashier to make away with R 3.2 lakh cash. In March this year, a man used an air pistol to nearly pull off a R40 lakh robbery from a bank in Rohini. More recently in July, three robbers opened fire inside a bank in east Delhi’s Krishna Nagar in a failed bid to rob the place.

Thursday’s robbery happened between 3.30 and 4 pm when there were very few customers inside the branch. “The bank had no security guards at the time of the robbery,” said DCP Sharma.

“Two men wearing helmets entered the bank with guns and knives. There were very few customers at that time. They targeted the cash at the deposit counter,” said Alok Kumar, joint commissioner of police (Eastern range).

The robbers allegedly collected a total of R8.89 lakh. “One customer had deposited the money and left. His money was still at the counter. The other customer was still in the process of submitting his cash,” said DCP Sharma,

Another investigator who did not want to be identified said the robbers counted some of the robbed cash at one point of time.

After stuffing the cash in a bag, the robbers allegedly fled the bank. “At that time two civilians, Samir and Vineet, noticed the robbers outside the bank and raised an alarm. It drew the attention of the local beat constable who was nearby, and the staff in a PCR van,” said joint commissioner, Kumar.

“The robbers headed to their motorcycle parked nearby but were chased by the two civilians and two policemen. They grappled with one of the robbers and nabbed him while the other escaped,” said joint commissioner Kumar.

The nabbed man was one Vikas, a man in his 20s. Police said the robbed cash was recovered from him even as the bank officials had been told to count their cash.

“We recovered a countrymade pistol, a knife and some bullets, and seized their motorcycle,” DCP Sharma said.

Vikas is an unemployed man hailing from Amroha in Uttar Pradesh. “He revealed the identity of his associate and we sent a police team to nab him,” the DCP said. The officer said the two men were in “desperate need of money”. “Vikas told us his partner had planned it all,” he said.

The officer said the men decided to commit some crime in Delhi for money and headed out to the national capital in the early hours of Wednesday by boarding a train from Amroha.

“They got off a train at Bhaita railway station in Loni and spent last night there. On Thursday morning, they rode a motorcycle to reach Farsh Bazar where they robbed the bank,” said the DCP.

The police suspect the motorcycle was stolen but they are yet to ascertain that. “Our focus is on arresting the other robber,” said the DCP.