Old currency of `82 lakh looted from PNB branch in Rewari
ROBBERS TAKE AWAY `81.46 LAKH IN DEMONITISED `500 AND `1,000 CURRENCY AND `1 LAKH IN OTHER DENOMINATIONS
ROHTAK: Unidentified burglars looted `81.46 lakh in old currency on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday from a Punjab National Bank branch located in Khera Alampur village in Rewari that stood without a night guard.
The police said the burglars broke a window to enter the bank and used a cutter to cut the safe where the money was kept.
The assailants took away `81.46 lakh in demonitised `500 and `1,000 denomination currency, which has been announced as illegal tender by the government, and also got hold of `1 lakh in 100 and 10 rupee notes. The amount was deposited in the bank by people after the government’s demonetisation move.
People living close by noticed the broken window on Sunday morning and informed the police, who reached the spot to conduct the investigation.
Kosli DSP Anil Kumar said the burglars damaged the CCTV system so the number of people who committed the crime could not be ascertained. “The branch is situated in a secluded area. They didn’t have a night guard. The burglars would have thought of targeting the new currency, but the bank hadn’t received it yet. It only had a couple of new `2,000 notes, which were in the lower section of the safe and probably remained unseen,” DSP Kumar said.
According to sources in the bank, the branch was robbed earlier too, on October 7, 2015 and was under the scanner to be shifted from the area. The police said they were considering the angle of security lapse from bank’s side. “We have registered a case of theft and collected finger print samples,” DSP Kumar said.