Unidentified burglars robbed nearly Rs 35 lakh from a branch of state-run Jammu and Kashmir Bank in a village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district late on Tuesday, officials said on Wednesday.
Locals at Agral Sarthal noticed that the lock of the main shutter of the bank on the first floor of a double-storied house was open and intimated bank officials, who later informed the police.
“On the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday some burglars sneaked into the bank branch after breaking locks with the help of a vehicle tool and decamped with Rs 34,30,987,” Kishtwar senior superintendent of police Sandeep Wazir told Hindustan Times.
Wazir said the looted money included Rs 20 lakh in new Rs 2,000 notes as well as Rs 100 and Rs 20 while the remaining amount of Rs 14,30,987 was in demonetised currency.
“The officials had kept the keys of the strong room inside the bank branch and it made the task of burglars easier,” the SSP said.
“We have initiated the investigation and the culprits will be arrested soon,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“We have initiated the investigation and the culprits will be arrested soon,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}News agency ANI reported that four armed and masked men entered a state-run bank in Malpora on Monday and made away with Rs 13 lakh in cash, mostly in scrapped Rs 500 and 1,000 banknotes.
Before that, three masked men robbed a bank of Rs 2.25 lakh in Kulgam district on October 25.
In his surprise announcement on November 8 to scrap high denomination banknotes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that one of the key targets of the drive was to stop militants from using counterfeit Indian currency from Pakistan.