Patna: Police are still clueless about the daylight bank heist of Rs 2.9 lakh from Vijaya Bank in Gola Road area on Thursday afternoon.

Five criminals had looted Rs 2.9 lakh cash after taking customers and bank employees hostage at gunpoint.

Station house officer (SHO) of Rupaspur police station Dipak Kumar said: "The criminals damaged the CCTV cameras after committing the crime.

The DVR of the CCTV cameras was damaged. We are taking the help of technical experts in retrieving the recording."

The officer also claimed that while on one hand, the CCTV recording on the bank premises was damaged, the CCTV cameras installed outside the bank were not working.

The bank is on the first floor of the building owned by Danapur block pramukh Sunil Kumar. It is a small branch with limited customers.

Sources in the police said there was no security guard at the bank which made the robbers' task easy.

The SHO said: "We have asked bank manager Manish Yadav why there was no security guard at the bank. However, he claimed that earlier there was a security guard but for the past few months, there was none."

An investigating officer said: "As there was no security guard and the armed escaped with cash without any resistance. The entire operation lasted for less than 10 minutes. Some staff resisted the criminals but they assaulted them with pistol butts."

Police sources said prima facie, it appeared to be the handiwork of some local gang.

The criminals were in the age group of around 20 to 25 years and many customers and bank employees could see their faces, as they were not properly covered.

Based on their accounts, the police are preparing the robbers' sketches. The five robbers had arrived at the bank on two bikes and after committing the crime, sped away towards Danapur.