Ex-employee arrested for breaking into Kathua bank branch, ₹1.5 crore seized

The Kathua Police said the ₹1.5 crore robbed from the branch at Hatli Morh was found hidden in a water tank at the house of the accused.

A former bank employee was arrested on Tuesday on charges of breaking into the HDFC Bank branch in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua on the night intervening Sunday and Monday and stealing ₹1.5 crore cash, police said.

Kathua SSP Ramesh Kotwal said the second suspect, also a resident of Kathua, is on the run but will be arrested soon (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

“We have arrested the main accused, a former bank employee, and have recovered the stolen cash. The co-accused has slipped out to probably Chandigarh in neighbouring Punjab but we will catch him soon,” Kathua district police chief Ramesh Kotwal said.

The main accused has been identified as Jagbir Singh Jaggu, a resident of Tara Nagar, Hatli Morh in Kathua.

Police said the money robbed from the branch at Hatli Morh was found hidden in a water tank at the house of the accused.

A police team has been sent to Chandigarh to arrest the co- accused, Sukhvinder Singh alias Sukhi of Rishi Nagar, Kathua.

The two men are alleged to have broken into the bank branch after cutting the door handle and tied up the guard on duty.

Police said the robbers apparently fell short of bags to take the money and left behind ₹19 lakh on the roof.

The robbery was discovered only on Monday morning when bank officials opened the office on Monday morning. The guard on night duty was tied up.