Patna: Armed criminals wearing masks shot dead a cash van guard in a daylight attack in Samastipur, around 90km northeast of Patna, on Thursday and looted over Rs 52.74 lakh belonging to the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).
Police officials said the incident happened around 2pm on Tazpur Road in the heart of Samastipur town, when the guard and driver of the cash van belonging to a private security service company were loading a cash-filled bag into the van outside the LIC office.
The money was to be taken to be deposited into a private bank. "Eyewitnesses said that six armed persons wearing masks arrived suddenly on motorcycles and tried to snatch the bag," a senior police official said on condition of anonymity.
"They shot at the guard when he resisted. He fell down after being hit by the bullet and the criminals fled with the bag containing cash. The entire incident happened in just a minute or so. According to LIC officials the bag contained currency notes worth Rs 52.74 lakh."
The robbers fired indiscriminately in the air while fleeing leading to a melee in the area as people ran helter-skelter and shopkeepers downed shutters.
The dead guard has been identified as Deenbandhu Jha of Vidyapati locality in Samastipur.
Residents took him to Sadar Hospital, but doctors there declared him brought dead. The police have sent his body for post-mortem.
Samastipur superintendent of police (SP) Deepak Ranjan and other police officials rushed to the spot after getting information about the incident and started investigations which shows how criminals have become emboldened.
"We have got vital clues from CCTV footage captured by cameras installed around the place of occurrence of the crime. Raids are being conducted to find out who were the people involved in the crime. As far as money is concerned, though LIC officials are claiming that over Rs 52 lakh was looted, our officials are verifying the exact amount taken away by the criminals," Ranjan told reporters.
Police officials said the way crime was conducted shows that criminals had inside information about the exact date and time at which heavy amount of cash was being transported from the LIC office.
