2 held in Karnal bank robbery case

KARNAL: A week after three armed robbers looted Rs 10.64 lakh from the branch of a nationalised bank in Karnal’s Nissing village, police arrested two of the accused on Tuesday.

Police said the accused, Ankur alias Rinku, of Panipat district, and Vikas, alias Kashu, of Gharaunda in Karnal, were arrested from Himachal Pradesh.

Police also recovered two countrymade pistols, 10 live cartridges, Rs 2.84 lakh cash and a bike from their possession. However, third accused Surender, of Karnal, is still at large.

As per the police complaint filed by the bank officials on October 5, three armed men had looted Rs 15 lakh from Bank of Baroda’s Nissing branch in Karnal. Later, police said the bank officials determined Rs 10.64 lakh had been looted.

The bank officials alleged that the robbers snatched the gun of the bank security guard and opened fire. No one was hurt in the incident. Later, the Karnal police had announced a reward of Rs 50,000 each for any information on the accused.

Preliminary investigation revealed that after committing the crime, the accused frequently changed their location and stayed in rented rooms in different cities of Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

Looking into their criminal record, police claim to have found their involvement in the Rs 15.35 lakh robbery at a filling station in Uchana village of Karnal in April this year. A murder case was also registered against accused Ankur in Panipat in 2012. He has already completed his sentence in a robbery case registered in Ambala in 2017.

A case of robbery is also registered against accused Vikas in Sonepat district. In this case, the accused had come out of jail after serving nine months’ sentence.

All accused have been booked under Sections 392, 397, 379-B, 307, and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 25, 54, and 59 of the Arms Act. They were produced in court which sent them to 10-day police remand, police said, adding that efforts were on to nab the third accused.