The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Bank looted in Hyderabad, Rs. 35 lakhs taken away

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 24, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Bank looted in Hyderabad, Rs. 35 lakhs taken away

Staff Reporter

Thieves open the strong room of a State Bank of Mysore branch

HYDERABAD: Thieves made away with Rs. 35 lakhs from the State Bank of Mysore's Banjara Hills branch in Hyderabad on Thursday even as the police stepped up patrolling following a robbery in a doctor couple's house in surrounding localities just a day before.

With no signs of forcible entry on any part of the bank, sleuths suspect that the offenders either managed to stay back inside the bank the previous night or that one of the bank employees had connived with them. The defused burglar alarm indicated that offenders did a recce of the building.

It is believed that the thieves came out around midnight after hiding somewhere in the bank and broke open the almirahs in which the strong room keys were kept. Later, they went to the basement accommodating the strong room.

Door not locked

What made the investigators surmise complicity of bank employees was the fact that the strong room door was not locked. However, the latch was placed in such a way that at first glance, anyone would think it was locked. The strong room had a number combination lock with three layers. Each layer could be opened with two keys. "The fact that they knew the combination of keys further strengthens our doubts of collision of bank workers," the Additional Commissioner of Police (Co-ordination), Tejdeep Kaur Menon, who visited the spot, said.

After collecting the cash, they tried to escape by removing the ventilator of the bathroom beside the strong room. As it had a closed wall outside, they cut open the window grill opening into a corner room in which a large number of batteries were stored. Since the doors of this room and the narrow passage into which it led were neither bolted nor locked thieves walked out freely.

The heist came to light on Thursday when the assistant manager, Sheshagiri Rao, found the two almirahs broken when he came to the bank. He informed the Manager, Shankar Rao, who alerted the police. CLUES team, dog squad and fingerprint experts examined the bank premises thoroughly.

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Andhra Pradesh