Big bank burglary: 26 UBI lockers found broken in Kanpur
KANPUR: Unidentified masked miscreants broke into the Union Bank of India’s (UBI) Pashupati Nagar branch and emptied 26 lockers, which contained jewellery, cash and documents of the customers, police said.
While the exact amount of the property burgled was being assessed, it could be worth rupees several crore, customers and bank officials said. A transporter, Ashutosh Gupta, said the burglars made away with all his family jewellery worth Rs 1 crore.
Taking serious view of the incident, Akhilesh Kumar, SSP Kanpur, suspended station officer, Naubasta police station, Akhilesh Jaiswal for negligence. The Special Task Force (STF) would assist the Kanpur police in probing the case, the SSP said.
As news spread about the burglary, customers thronged the bank and held a protest, demanding compensation for their losses. Senior officials then assured the customers that they would do their best to solve the crime. Alok Singh, IG Kanpur zone, said police would crack the case soon.
The bank is situated on the ground floor of one Rajendra Singh’s house. The burglary was discovered when Mahesh Kumar, a bank employee, opened the bank in the morning.
“When I entered, the locker room lock was broken, and on going further, I found several lockers broken open,” the bank employee said.
He informed bank manager Praveen Srivastava, who informed police.
The police, on examining CCTV footage, found a man wearing mask entering the bank and smashing CCTV cameras. The burglars entered the bank from the adjacent vacant plot making a hole in the wall.
They had brought with them a gas cutter, which they used to break open the locker room and the lockers. Srivastava said the burglers even tried to enter the strong room but could not succeed.
The forensic team has picked some leads from the crime scene but the sniffer dog could not provide any clue.
An STF team, headed by additional SP Vishal Vikram Singh, arrived on Monday evening and closely examined the crime scene. As regards the worth of property burgled, the bank officials said the items kept in lockers were not disclosed to the bank and it was difficult for them to tell their worth.
“We will speak to each customer about the items they had kept in the lockers,” said Srivastava.