4 armed men loot bank branch of ₹28 lakh in Bihar’s Sheikhpura town

PATNA: Four armed men on Monday barged into a bank in Bihar’s Sheikhpura district and looted over ₹28 lakh on Monday morning, police said.

Police said the four men went to the Axis Bank branch at Sri Krishna Chowk in Sheikhpura town, about 50km north of state capital Patna, at about 10:20am.

According to witnesses, the unidentified men first targeted the strong room of the branch before moving to the cash counter. Before they left, they also robbed the bank customers. Gyan Choudhary, a bank customer, said the robbers held a firearm to his head and forced him to hand over ₹41,000 cash. Other customers were also robbed.

A police officer said the robbers were aware of the branch’s alarm system and disconnected it right at the beginning of the robbery.

The bank manager was slapped around when he initially tried to resist the robbery.

Sheikhpura superintendent of police Baliram Choudhary said the robbers confiscated the mobile phones of the bank staffers and customers. They were tied up and locked inside the premises by the robbers who fled on their two motorcycles, barely 10 minutes after they had entered the place.

The local vendors heard screams from inside the bank after the robbers left and rescued them.

Chaudhary said a forensic team was sent to the bank branch to collect evidence. Investigators are also scanning footage from CCTV cameras installed in and around the locality.

“We are trying to identify the miscreants through CCTV camera footage installed inside and outside the bank. We have started an investigation. He said such a daring crime in the busy Sheikhpura area was a challenge for police,” he said, adding that a special investigation team has been constituted headed by a deputy superintendent of police.