Bihar men behind Lucknow bank heist; 3 nabbed after encounter
After stopping two vehicles in Laulai village, when the police team came near one of them, the accused opened fire at the cops; In retaliation, one of them was shot in the leg
LUCKNOW Seven men, including six from Bihar who met in Punjab’s Jalandhar’s jail, were behind the sensational bank heist that rocked Lucknow in the wee hours of Sunday. Three of them were arrested near Kisan Path in Laulai village of Chinhat area here on Monday after an encounter with the police, said officials.
The trio was identified as Arvind Kumar, 22, Balram Kumar, 28, and Kailash Bind, 28.
After stopping two vehicles in Laulai village, when the police team came near one of the vehicles, the accused opened fire at the cops. In retaliation, Arvind Kumar was shot in the leg and was arrested, said police. Four suspects, riding in another vehicle, fled and police said efforts were on to nab them.
“One of the accused was shot in the leg by police during retaliatory firing when the accused fired at police when they tried to stop him during a checking drive near Laulai village,” said deputy commissioner of police Shashank Singh.
The absconding accused involved in the heist at the Chinhat branch of Indian Overseas Bank were Mithun Kumar, 28, Sobind Kumar, 29 Sunny Dayal, 28, and Vipin Kumar Verma, he added.
Vipin Kumar Varma, a local helped the others, with the recce and stay in the state capital. “The accused had bonded when they were lodged in a jail in Jalandhar,” said ACP Vibhiti Khand Radharaman Singh, adding that one of the accused was lodged in that jail for bank robbery.
{{/usCountry}}Vipin Kumar Varma, a local helped the others, with the recce and stay in the state capital. “The accused had bonded when they were lodged in a jail in Jalandhar,” said ACP Vibhiti Khand Radharaman Singh, adding that one of the accused was lodged in that jail for bank robbery.
{{/usCountry}}A daring heist at Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) shook the Chinhat area of Lucknow on Sunday
{{/usCountry}}A daring heist at Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) shook the Chinhat area of Lucknow on Sunday
{{/usCountry}}when a few lockers in the bank were found broken, with some of their contents missing. It was suspected that the thieves broke into the building by making a hole in the wall the bank shares with an empty plot of land. The accused disabled the bank’s alarm system and cleaned up 42 lockers, said officials.
{{/usCountry}}when a few lockers in the bank were found broken, with some of their contents missing. It was suspected that the thieves broke into the building by making a hole in the wall the bank shares with an empty plot of land. The accused disabled the bank’s alarm system and cleaned up 42 lockers, said officials.
{{/usCountry}}‘Robbers broke 42 out of 90 lockers’
Joint commissioner of police (law & Order) Amit Verma, in a presser, revealed that there were 90 lockers in the bank and the accused were able to break 42 of them. “Of the 90 lockers, 70 were active, of which 42 were broken,” he said.
Lapses in security: Police
The JCP said there were several lapses in the bank’s security, due to which the men could easily enter the bank. “During primary probe, we found that there was not a single watchman in the bank during night time. Out of seven CCTVs, only two were said to be in working condition. We found that the bank was not following many of the SOPs, which a locker facility bank has to follow, including walls with iron beams,” he added.
‘They took only 3-4 hrs to break 42 lockers’
The accused seemed to be professional cutters and had been preparing for a long time to execute the crime. They barged into the bank, and within a span of 3-4 hours, they broke open 42 lockers and decamped with the booty, said the JCP.
The accused chose a period of darkness (wee hours) to escape from the city when three of them were caught. “The entire state police was alerted, as a result of which, the accused were stopped during a checking drive after being found suspicious by our informers,” said the JCP.
