Burglars drilled a big hole in the rear wall of a State Bank of Mysore (SBM) branch building here and made off with about seven kg of gold valued at Rs 1.6 crore and Rs 36 lakh in cash.

The heist occurred sometime between Saturday evening, when the bank’s Machenahally branch was closed for the day, and Monday morning when the staff arrived to open it. Sunday was a holiday.

The burglars broke in by drilling a big hole through a wall on the back side of the bank located on Shimoga-Bhadravathi stretch of National Highway 206. There is no other building or office close to the bank, police said.
Once inside, the burglars damaged the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras. They then carted away the lockers, opened them with gas cutters at some isolated place and decamped with cash and gold. The burglars were crafty enough not to open the lockers inside the bank to avoid making any noise. The bank does not have any security guard.

According to police, the staff had locked up the bank on Saturday evening. When they returned on Monday to open the bank, the office was ransacked and the valuables were missing. It is unclear when the heist occurred. Police suspect that the burglars had done a recce of the bank and its surroundings. In the past too, there had been an attempt to burgle the same branch but that was not successful.

Police employed a sniffer dog to trace the culprits. A team of the Crime Laboratory Ultimate Evidence System (CLUES) visited the scene of crime and gathered evidence. Police suspect that a professional gang is involved in the heist.

Superintendent of Police Kaushlendra Kumar, DySP Shiva Kumar and other police officers visited the bank. A case has been registered at the Tunganagar police station. Kaushlendra Kumar said four special teams had been formed to nab the culprits.