Siliguri bank robbery

BIRESWAR BANERJEE, TT, Siliguri, June 13: A gang of thieves allegedly decamped with Rs 25 lakh from the counter of a bank here this morning as one of them indulged in a conversation with the cashier to distract his attention.

Although other bank employees immediately realised that the money had been stolen, they couldn’t trace the robbers numbering three-four.

The theft occurred at the branch of the Indian Bank near Airview More on Hill Cart Road soon after the regular operations had started. A complaint was lodged with Siliguri police who have started checking the images captured by the CCTV inside the branch.

Police sources and bank officials said cashier Debal Dutta had just occupied his seat with Rs 25 lakh when a man posing as a customer approached him around 10.15am. Five packets, each containing 10 bundles of 100 notes of Rs 500 currencies, were placed in a trunk in the cash counter.

The cubicle in which Dutta sits has a glass in the front and a door at the back. One can enter the counter through the back door. “One man came and said he wanted to take a demand draft. I asked him to go to the front office where he could avail himself of the service,” said Dutta.

While the person posing as the customer engaged Dutta in a conversation, three-four others reached behind the cubicle and took away the cash.

“One of our sub-staff members suddenly alerted me that some people were standing at the back of my counter and left with packets of the cash. I sprang from the chair, only to find the tin box vacant. We all went out of the bank to find the robbers, but they all had vanished,” said the cashier.

Dutta, who has been working in the branch since 1994, rushed to the nearby traffic control room and informed the policemen about the robbery. Soon, the Siliguri police reached the bank which is on the first floor of a two-storied building. The branch doesn’t have an armed guard.

Amit Banerjee, the branch manager, said Rs 25 lakh had been stolen and the police were investigating the case. He refused to entertain questions from journalists.

Siliguri police commissioner K. Jayaraman said: “On the basis of preliminary probe, we can say at least four-five persons were involved in the theft. Bank employees have been interrogated and we are checking the CCTV footage.”