₹13L looted from PNB branch in Hoshiarpur village

UNSOLVED HEISTS

HOSHIARPUR: Armed miscreants looted ₹13 lakh at gunpoint from the Punjab National Bank’s Bassi Daulat Khan branch on Friday.

As per eyewitnesses, five robbers stormed the bank around 1 pm and took the staff and customers at gunpoint. One of them headed towards the cashier’s cabin and collected the cash. Before fleeing, the accused took away the CCTV’S digital video recorder (DVR).

The accused executed the crime in 2-3 minutes, said the witnesses. Branch manager Tarinder Kaur said that one of the robbers dashed to her cabin while others spread out in the main hall, taking all the staff members and customers at gunpoint.

“They threatened to kill if any one used a mobile phone. I called up my seniors as soon as the miscreants left,” she said. Nine staff members and 10-12 customers were present in the bank at the time of heist, she said.

The staff and the clients were badly shaken. Cashier Ritu Kumari could barely speak when the police questioned her. An elderly customer, Rattan Singh, was so traumatised that he could not get up from his seat even an hour after the incident.

Witnesses said the robbers came in a white car from Phagwara side and fled towards In September, ₹19 lakh were looted from a cooperative bank branch in Tanda.

In July, ₹9.6 lakh were looted from Axis Bank’s Kot Fatuhi branch.

Hoshiarpur bypass. The area was cordoned off but hours after the incident, the police were clueless about the culprits.

The bank does not have a security guard for long. The manager said the branch had been running without security even before she joined it about a year ago.

Punjab National Bank’s circle head A K Bhatia said the bank was short on security force. “It (deployment of a security man) can at best be a deterrent but by no means prevent such audacious acts. Security personnel are helpless before armed robbers,” he said.

Superintendent of police (investigation) Harpreet Singh Mander said a manhunt had been launched to nab the culprits. “They reportedly came in a white car. We questioned the shopkeepers in the vicinity but they had nothing concrete to share,” the SP said.

A case has been registered in Model Town police station, he said.