Nagpur: Kanhan police have released sketch of one of the five armed dacoits who had looted Rs 7 lakh from Gondegaon Branch of UCO Bank on Friday at gun-point. Armed with guns and knives, the masked dacoits had entered the bank, locked the employees inside a room, laid their hands on the cash and fled after damaging CCTV instruments.
The daylight robbery sent shock waves across Kanhan town and also brought memories of similar dacoity at Amit Jewellers of May 14 alive.
Cops have stumbled upon some leads after preliminary investigation and are working on them to crack the robbery. Five teams of cops have been formed to trail the dacoits. Cops are grilling a group of goons who were nabbed for possession of arms.
The five masked dacoits stormed into the bank at 4.30 pm when the bank officials were busy counting cash. Assistant Manager Raju Nagrare, Cashier Sujay Singh Chouhan and peon Vijay Meshram were present in the bank. On seeing the masked men in the bank, the Assistant Manager asked them to remove their masks but the dacoits did not respond. Suddenly, they took out guns from their pockets leaving Nagrare and Sujay Singh stunned. The peon came to rescue of the bank officials but he too was overpowered by the goons at knife-point. The two of the dacoits rushed towards cabin of cashiers where they collected the cash amounting Rs 7 lakh and stuffed it in a bag.
Later, the dacoits moved to search the CCTV instruments in the bank and started ransacking the furniture. After observing CCTV recorder, they smashed the instrument. Before fleeing the spot, the goons gathered the bank officials and locked them in strong room and locked them inside after snatching their mobile phones.
The armed desperadoes also pocketed Rs 4,000 cash from Sujay Singh’s wallet and a gold ring and Rs 10,000 from the Assistant Manager Raju Nagrare. After fleeing the spot, the accused locked the bank from outside and threw the mobile phones in the bushes. However, an employee of the bank managed to keep a mobile phone with him and he informed Mrutyunjay Singh, who was also associated with the bank, and he immediately rushed to the bank and rescued the bank officials.
Staff of Kanhan Police Station along with sniffer dogs and finger print experts rushed to the spot. The cops immediately relayed the information to Control Room of District Police. Senior police officials including Nagpur Rural SP Shailesh Balkawde, Additional Superintendent of Police Narsingh Sherkhane, Kamptee SDPO Ishwar Katkade, and staff rushed to the spot and started investigations.
Sleuths of Local Crime Branch also swung into action to zero in on the criminals. The police learnt that the goons drove in a Grey-colour Innova car, the cops are collecting addresses of those who own Gray-colour Innova car registered in the district. Role of local elements in the dacoity is being examined.
