₹7.8 lakh looted from Punjab and Sind Bank in Amritsar village

The accused, who spent around 15 minutes at the branch, also took along digital video recorder that had the footage of CCTV camera. The village is about 18km from Amritsar city.

A group of about six armed men on Saturday barged into the Chhajjalwadi village branch of Punjab and Sind Bank in the district and looted ₹7.83 lakh after holding the staff hostage in broad daylight on Saturday. The accused, who spent around 15 minutes at the branch, also took along digital video recorder that had the footage of CCTV camera. The village is about 18km from Amritsar city.

“Around 1pm, six masked men entered the bank. All of them were carrying weapons. First, one of the robbers took the security guard at gunpoint at the door of the bank and snatched his rifle. One of them pointed a gun at me and another took the cashier at gunpoint and others collected the cash,” said branch manager Ram Narayan.

“The cashier handed over ₹7.83 lakh cash to the robbers. One of the gang members then rushed to the control room of the bank and removed the digital video recorder (DVR) and the accused fled the spot,” said the manager, adding they immediately called the police. There were only three people — the managers, cashier and the security guard — at the bank when the robbery was committed.

A police team led by Khilchian station house officer (SHO) of inspector Paramjit Singh rushed to the spot. “Around six unidentified armed men whose faces were covered entered the bank. They spent 15 minutes there looted ₹7.83 lakh. The accused took away the CCTV footage recording with them.” The SHo said the accused had come in a white Maruti Brezza vehicle. “We are scanning the CCTV camera footages of nearby areas to ascertain the identity of the accused. Investigation is on,” the SHO said.

On the complaint of branch manager, a case has been registered against the six unidentified men at Khilchian police station under Section 395 (dacoity) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).