TV
Armed assailants carried out a daylight robbery on Tuesday afternoon at the Kuchei branch of Gramya Bank, under Kuliana police limits in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district, making off with an estimated Rs 8 lakh.
According to reports, the incident occurred at around 2:45 pm with customers and employees present inside the bank.
As reported by eyewitnesses, five men wearing helmets arrived on two motorcycles at the bank. They entered the bank carrying firearms and sharp weapons, intimidated people present inside the premises and warned them against making any calls.
One of the assailants confronted the cashier and demanded money from the drawers, reportedly. Simultaneously, another miscreant of the gang held bank manager Ranjita Soren at gunpoint, threatened her against alerting authorities. Meanwhile, other gang members took away mobile phones from both staff and customers, removed computer hard drives, and took away the main gate key of the bank.
The group quickly gathered the cash, locked the gate from the outside, and made their escape on the same motorcycles. However, before fleeing, they threw the seized mobile phones and gate key outside the bank compound.
As per the estimation by the branch manager, as reported by TNIE, the stolen amount is believed to be between Rs 6 lakh and Rs 8 lakh. She also mentioned that the robbers spoke in Hindi, Bengali, and Odia, indicating they may not be residents of Odisha.
According to PTI reports, DIG Eastern Range Satyajit Nayak and SP Mayurbhanj Varun Guntupalli visited the site. Police have begun reviewing CCTV footage to trace the suspects.
