Locksmith, aides connived with some bankmen: Police

KANPUR : Valuables worth over ₹2.5 crore were stolen from nine lockers of the Central Bank India’s Karachi Khana branch here by an expert locksmith and his aides in connivance with certain bank officials, police said late on Friday night.

DCP, crime, Salman Taj Patil and DCP, east, Pramod Kumar said the expert was sent in by Godrej company to open 29 dormant bank lockers on December 9 last year on demand from the bank. Flouting rules, locksmith Chandra Prakash brought in three outsiders with him to do the job and the bank panel that was formed to oversee the opening of lockers allowed the outsiders in clear violation of norms, the cops said.

Chandra Prakash and his men used flexible steel stick to determine which of the lockers other than 29 had articles in them. They opened nine lockers and got them counted with the dormant ones, the police said. They also found articles in 10 of the 29 lockers but the bank officials showed on papers that articles were found in only three.

Patil said the police had taken Chandra Prakash, his aides Rakesh and Karan besides bank manager Ram Prasad in custody. They were being questioned. Chandra Prakash has confessed to the crime and said he had received 300 grams of gold as his share. He sold it to four different jewellers for Rs 35,000 per 10 grams.

Cop’s rifle, bike snatched

LUCKNOW: Three bike-borne miscreants looted a rifle and bike from a cop at gunpoint near Khapradih area of Ayodhya.

According to police, the incident was reported during the early morning hours when Bhaskar Kumar was on his way to Haiderganj Police station. Three bike-borne miscreants intercepted him and looted his Indian Small Arms System (INSAS) rifle and bike. “We have constituted teams to nab the miscreants at the earliest,” said SK Pandey, SSP, Ayodhya.