JOIN USA bank customer sustained injury after a stray pellet accidentally flew from the double-barrel gun of a security officer and struck him in the left foot at the entrance of the State Bank of India branch on the West of Chord Road on Monday morning.
Chandru, 35, a resident of KP Agrahara, was rushed to a nearby private hospital where he was treated for the wound and discharged in the afternoon.
Hospital sources said the pellet had brushed past his left foot, but did not pierce it. Doctors termed the injury minor.
Papanna, a security guard with SMS Security Agency, deployed at the ATM counter on the bank premises, told Deccan Herald that around 11 am, a cash transfer vehicle of the bank had arrived at the branch.
“As they finished the transaction and were about to leave, I heard a loud pop. By the time I rushed to the place, I saw one of the customers bleeding from his left leg.
I thought he must have been shot at, and we rushed him to a private hospital,” he said.
Magadi Road police rushed to the spot and detained security officer L Sampath Raj, 58, and seized the weapon he claimed had misfired.
Raj, an ex-serviceman, has been working with the SBI for the past eight years.
He was entrusted with handling vehicles that transfer cash between various branches of the bank in the City. Raj said the standard operating procedure was that two armed security officers in the van alight and take positions for any eventuality before the cash box is brought out of the vehicle. Accordingly, Raj loaded his weapon and had his finger on the trigger throughout the transaction.
Finger on trigger
“As the cash box was reloaded into the vehicle and the driver started it, I still had my finger on the trigger. I opened the door of the vehicle and put a leg out when the gun accidentally hit the car door and went off,” he said.
The shell hit one of the steps of the bank entrance and the pellets hit the road below. One such stray pellet hit the foot of Chandru who was entering the bank gate at that moment and injured him.
Police have arrested Raj.