Purulia, June 11: Nearly Rs 85 lakh was looted from a bank in the heart of Purulia town this morning when district police officers were attending a conference on crime barely a kilometre away.

Six men walked into the Punjab National Bank branch when its doors had just opened and its guard was yet to take his gun out from a vault. They walked away 15 minutes later, locking up the employees and three customers in a room.

The sight of eight men running out and rushing away on motorbikes aroused the suspicion of local people, who gave a chase. Bombs came flying at them. Sunil Kalindi, 5, and Biswa Gorai, 6, who were going to school, were injured.

A doctor said pebbles that shot up because of the blasts could have pierced their legs.

Trader Bivash Mahato, 30, who went to withdraw money from the bank this morning, said: “Six men entered the bank as if they were customers as two stood outside.”

A duo entered manager Ashish Chatterjee’s chamber. “As I tried to ring the alarm bell, they pointed a revolver at me,” said Chatterjee.

He told the goons the keys to the vault were with cashier Chandra Mohan Tudu. “They stuffed the cash in six black bags,” said Chatterjee.

Head peon Chittaranjan Ghosal said it was all over in 15 minutes. Sweeper Kanchan Bauri was hit on the head with a revolver butt when he apparently tried to give the slip.

The bank men rang the alarm after the goons had fled.

Inspector-general Rakesh Gupta, who went to the bank, said the dacoits fled towards Jharkhand.

This is the third bank heist in Purulia in the past fortnight. None of the cases has been cracked.

The PNB branch — about 270km from Calcutta — looted today is only 200m from the district police chief’s residence. He was at the monthly crime conference during the heist.