Patna, July 24: Six armed criminals today looted Rs 70 lakh from a State Bank of India (SBI) cash van after hijacking it on a bridge in Vaishali district, around 30km north of the state capital.
Around 11.30am, the Marshal cash van set out from SBI, Hajipur, for the bank’s Sonepur branch, 7km away, with Rs 70 lakh locked in a trunk. Four persons were inside the van — driver Ajay, cashier Karunesh Kumar and two armed home guard jawans.
The van had just crossed the Purani Gandak Pul and was entering Sonepur around noon, when six men, hiding behind a parked autorickshaw on the northern end of the bridge, shot at its rear windscreen, shattering it.
“The shot made the driver screech to a halt. The criminals quickly surrounded the van and asked the occupants to step out. The home guard jawans carried rifles but failed to react. The criminals snatched their firearms, ordered the four to stand at one corner and drove the van away. The vehicle was later found abandoned at Naya Pul, around 1km from the spot. The trunk lock was found smashed and the cash missing. The jawans’ rifles lay on the ground,” a senior police officer told The Telegraph.
Vaishali superintendent of police Upendra Prasad Sinha said his men rushed to the spot on being alerted.
“The police are trying to dig out details of the incident. The way the criminals ambushed the cash van implies that they knew its precise route and the exact time it would cross the bridge. They knew details of the van, the number of men it would have and the cash it would carry. We are conducting investigations,” the police officer added.
Sources hinted at the role of an insider in the loot.
“The criminals had accurate information about the number of men in the van and the cash it was carrying. We suspect an insider’s role. Employees at the bank’s Hajipur and Sonepur branches would be quizzed. The home guards’ failure to retaliate raises suspicion. The driver and the cashier are being questioned,” said another police officer.
The police recovered the shell of a bullet from the spot near the bridge and a bike parked a little distance away. But they did not confirm whether the two-wheeler belonged to the criminals or not.
