A 52-year-old security guard at a co-operative bank in Rajajinagar died of cardiac arrest two hours after witnessing a burglar attack his colleague and injure him badly early on Wednesday morning, police said.

Nagesh, from Prakash Nagar, is the deceased. He was guarding the Veerashaiva Co-operative Bank at 64th ‘A’ Cross, Rajajinagar. The bank is located on the ground floor of a two-storey building. There is a ladies’ hostel, Veera Ragini, on the first and second floors.

Manikanthan, another guard, was sleeping at the entrance of the first floor. According to him, he was woken up by some noise around 2.30 am. “I looked down and saw a thief trying to unlock the bank door with a duplicate key. I raised an alarm and ran downstairs.”

In no time, he reached the bank’s door. But the thief lay in ambush and attacked him with an iron rod. Manikanthan said he collapsed but managed to get up.

“He hit me again. But I managed to snatch the rod from him and tried to hit him. Just then, Nagesh rushed to my rescue. The burglar saw him coming and fled into the darkness,” Manikanthan said.

The duo then called the police who arrived at the spot and took Manikanthan to hospital. The police asked Nagesh to remain on guard. He went to work but remained disturbed. Around 4.30 am, he suffered a cardiac arrest and died, police said.

Police have taken serious note of the incident. They said Manikanthan, 63, was deployed by Top Seed, a security agency. The bank violated norms by deploying an elderly guard.

Manikanthan would guard the whole building alone. Besides, the bank hadn’t installed CCTV cameras on the premises. Police have slapped notices on the bank management as well as the security guard for the violations.

Manikanthan, who is said to be out of danger, told the police that the burglar had come in a car and fled in the same vehicle. Police are checking the footage of CCTV cameras installed at the nearby junctions.
DH News Service