Burglars dig tunnel to loot bank in Haryana

Burglars tunnelled 125 feet to break into a nationalised bank strong room at Gohana in Sonepat district on the night intervening Sunday and Monday, and stole money and valuables estimated to be worth crores of rupees from 90 lockers.

Burglars tunnelled 125 feet to break into a nationalised bank strong room at Gohana in Sonepat district on the night intervening Sunday and Monday, and stole money and valuables estimated to be worth crores of rupees from 90 lockers.

HT Image

The 2.5-foot-wide tunnel starts from an abandoned building close to the Punjab National Bank branch at old bus stand of Gohana. A narrow lane separates the buildings.

Branch manager Davinder Malik was left stumped by the hole discovered on Monday morning, and finding 90 of 360 lockers tampered with. Based on his complaint, the Gohana police have registered a case under Section 457 (break-in by night) and 380 (theft in a house) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). “There was no surveillance camera installed inside the strong room,” said Gohana deputy superintendent of police Rajeev Deshwal, “and the night guard said he had heard nothing.”

The digging job seems to be a labour of more than a month. The police found the extracted mud heaped in two rooms and the windows glossed with board. They are gathering inputs from neighbours and bank employees, and also scanning video footage to know who visited the bank over the past months.

There are signs on the spot that the burglars used iron cutters to break open the lockers. The huge crowd of customers assembled outside bank after the news broke out.