Bhubaneswar, Aug. 31: Armed robbers today looted Rs 16 lakh from a branch of a nationalised bank near Pipili, 12 km from here.
The robbers attacked the bank's security guard with a sharp-edged weapon when he tried to resist them. They damaged the CCTV system installed on the bank premises and took away the hard disc of the recorder before escaping from the bank.
Eyewitnesses said the incident occurred between 2.45pm and 3pm when four men with sharp-edged weapons entered the bank premises. Two of their associates waited outside the bank to guard the area. They had come on three motorcycles.
"The robbers had covered their faces with handkerchiefs. They forcefully entered my room. They asked me to hand over the keys of the vault. I told them that I did not have the keys and managed to press the siren," said branch manager Nansi Pradhan.
As soon as the siren went off, the armed robbers rushed to the room of the cashier and threatened him. They loaded the cash into a handbag.
"While they were trying to flee from the bank, the security guard came and pulled out his gun. At this, one of the robbers attacked the security guard with a sharp-edged weapon," said a bank official. Ten bank employees were present at the branch during the incident.
The security guard, identified as Babaji Charan Sethy, was rushed to the nearest government hospital as he nursed the deep wounds on his hand. Police said the robbers fled towards Puri on their three motorcycles. "We are trying to ascertain the exact amount looted by the gangsters. Preliminary investigations suggest that they were aware that there would be few customers during the lunch break. Further investigation is on," said sub-divisional police officer Alekha Pahi.
On March 29, unidentified robbers had set an ATM and the branch of a nationalised bank on fire at Delanga Bazaar in Puri district.
Although the gangsters failed to rob any money from the bank and the ATM, several documents of the bank were gutted in the fire. Police suspected that the robbers set the bank and ATM on fire in frustration after they failed to loot cash.
