JOIN USThough more than 48 hours have elapsed since 35 out of 72 lockers were burgled from a UCO Bank branch in Purnia, police have failed to make any breakthrough.
The burglary in the bank, situated on Women's College campus, was detected on Sunday afternoon when branch manager Sumit Kumar opened the bank as an audit team had arrived from Bhagalpur.
However, the manager found the lock of the locker room broken and many safes opened.
"Soon, I informed the police," the branch manager said.
Though the exact amount of the burglary has not been assessed (as the customers normally avoid disclosing the valuables), it could be worth several crores.
The miscreants reportedly used a gas cutter to break open 35 of the 72 lockers on the bank premises.
The police, which reached there with additional reinforcement, found two gas cutters and other tools used in the burglary.
The window grill was also damaged apparently to make way for an entrance into the locker room.
The police wondered how the siren could not alert even though the miscreants remained in the bank for around five hours (possibly from Saturday midnight till early hours of Sunday).
They also noted that there was a delay of two hours in informing them.
The miscreants escaped with the hard disk containing the footage of the CCTV that was installed in the bank.
The bank had not deployed guards during night hours inspite of the branch being located at an isolated place.
"We are investigating the case from all angles. Right now, we can't say anything as we are waiting for the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report," said Sub-divisional Police Officer RK Shah.
A senior official of the bank, however, said that all those customers whose safe had been burgled are entitled to Rs 1 lakh as insurance money.
According to a report of the National Crime Records Bureau, altogether 1,934 cases of locker theft in 51 bank branches have been reported across the country from 2015 to 2017.