4 loot over ₹6L from Tarn Taran PNB bank
POLICE UNDER FIRE Three cops suspended for dereliction of duty
TARN TARAN: Four unidentified armed robbers, in a filmy style, decamped after looting Punjab National Bank (PNB) in broad daylight in Jamarai village, 20 km from the district headquarters, on Wednesday.
The bike-borne robbers, all turbaned, looted ₹6,63,945 at gun point, after thrashing the bank staff. The entire incident was recorded in closed circuit television (CCTV) installed in and outside the bank. The armed men stormed the bank at around 11.30 am.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Tarn Taran Darshan Singh Mann with a team reached the spot and started the investigation into the matter.
Mann said, “We have examined the CCTV footages and the armed men’s faces are clearly visible in the recordings.” “The district has been cordoned off and the robbers will be nabbed soon.”
He said, “The robbers managed to loot the bank with ease because of lack of security guard in the bank.”
Bank manager Himanshu Singla said, presently there are only three staff members, including him in the bank.
“I and my colleagues came to the bank at around 9 am as usual. The bank was full of people, before afternoon, when the four unidentified armed men, all in their thirties, stormed the bank,” he said.
“Two of them pointed guns at the cashier Davinder Singh and asked him to give them all the cash available in the bank immediately,” he said. “The other two pointed guns at the bank customers and threatened them to not move or raise alarm,” said the manager. “Before looting the cash from the safe, the robbers thrashed me and the cashier,” he added.
Sources from the department said, the robbery took place owing to lapse on the part of cops. SSP said a case under Sections 392 (punishment for robbery) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 25-27-54-59 of the Arms Act had been registered against the unidentified robbers at Goindwal police station. He said, station house officer (SHO) Goindwal Sahib Sukhinder Singh, chowki in-charge Fatehabad, sub-inspector Lakhwinder Singh and a constable Bhupinder Singh had been suspended on charges of dereliction of duty. “A departmental inquiry has been initiated against the trio,” he said.