Gone in 2 min

It is the third incident of snatching outside banks in the last two weeks in the city. In all the three cases, motorcycle-borne snatchers were involved.

Two minutes. That is all it took Rajmal Shah (57) to lose Rs 5 lakh to motorcycle-borne snatchers.

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It is the third incident of snatching outside banks in the last two weeks in the city. In all the three cases, motorcycle-borne snatchers were involved.

Shah had just stepped out of HDFC Bank in Block-J of Rajouri Garden in West Delhi at 11:45 am on MondayTwo persons on a silver colour motorcycle swooped in and snatched the bag with the cash from Shah's hand.

The incident took place 50 meters from the office of ACP (Traffic).

Police said Shah, a manager with Kirti Nagar-based DR Plastics, had come to collect money from Vijay Singh Tanwar (55), a businessman.

Tanwar, accompanied by his son Sunil Tanwar (35), had come to encash a cheque at the bank and give the money to Shah. They had come in a maroon Wagon R car.

“Tanwar and Sunil went inside the bank with Shah, while the driver parked the car. The three left the bank together after collecting the cash,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Sharad Aggarwal. “While they were waiting for the car outside, two snatchers on silver colour motorcycle snatched the bag from Shah’s hand and sped towards Mayapuri.”

Tanwar's driver tried to chase the two in the car but they managed to escape. “It happened all of a sudden,” said Tanwar, who is a manufacturer of plastic granules.

He said that he often visited the bank for monetary transactions. “There was no guard outside the bank at the time of the incident,” he said. “Since the robbers were wearing helmets we could not see their faces.”

Aggarwal said the police have written to banks asking them to improve safety measures.

“We ask the banks to sensitize their security guards in dealing with such situations,” he said. “But implementation of our recommendations is slow.”