There was an encounter with the police late on Monday night with two more miscreants of the gang who broke into 42 lockers of the Indian Overseas Bank in Lucknow and stole jewelery and other valuables worth crores. In this encounter between the police and the accused on Kisan Path in Lucknow, one miscreant was injured by a bullet in his leg, while another accused managed to escape from the spot. The police have arrested the injured accused and admitted him to the hospital. This was the second encounter of Lucknow Police with a bank robbery gang within 24 hours.
Earlier in the day on Monday, Lucknow Police had arrested three members of a gang from Bihar after an encounter within 24 hours of the theft at the Chinhat branch of the Indian Overseas Bank. Four other accused traveling in the second car had managed to escape from the spot. The arrested accused have been identified as Arvind Kumar, Balram Kumar and Kailash Bind. He was riding in his Estilo car and was trying to escape from the Outer Ring Road. During the encounter, Arvind Kumar, a resident of Munger, Bihar, was injured by a police bullet in his leg. Police recovered Rs 3 lakh in cash, precious jewelery and an illegal country-made pistol from their possession.
1889 grams of gold and 1240 grams of silver recovered from thieves
Police said that all three accused are aged between 22 to 28 years. His car was stopped near Laulai village of Chinhat at around 8 am on Monday morning. A police officer said, ‘When asked to stop, the accused opened fire on the police. The police retaliated, in which one of the accused, Arvind Kumar (22), was shot in the leg. Balram Kumar and Kailash Bind (both 28), who were present in the car with him, have also been arrested. Rs 3 lakh in cash, 1889 grams of gold and 1240 grams of silver have been recovered from them. In this way, the police have so far arrested 4 accused in two separate incidents of encounter. Three are still absconding, efforts are being made to catch them.
The gang is from Bihar and the person doing recce of the bank is from Lucknow.
Members of this Bihar-based gang had entered the Indian Overseas Bank in Chinhat in the early hours of 23rd December by cutting a 2.5 feet hole in the wall. They looted valuables from 42 out of 90 lockers. The incident came to light on Sunday morning when a local shopkeeper noticed a hole in the wall of the bank and informed the authorities. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Eastern Zone) Shashank Singh said that the gang consists of seven members, six of whom are residents of different districts of Bihar. The seventh accused, Vipin Kumar Verma, is a resident of Lucknow. It was Vipin Verma who did the recce of the bank and made arrangements for accommodation, food, vehicles etc. of the gang members in Lucknow.
The security arrangement in the bank locker was not as per the standard.
He said, ‘The gang used professional cutters to open the locker within 3-4 hours. The motorcycle used by them was first traced, after which the three accused were identified. Lucknow’s Joint Police Commissioner (Law and Order) Amit Verma highlighted serious security lapses in the bank. He said, ‘Out of 7 CCTV cameras installed in the bank, only 2 were working, and no night watchman was deployed. The wall of the bank was not strengthened enough with iron sheets, making it very easy for the gang to break it. The bank failed to follow several security protocols mandated for locker facilities and these lapses made the work of thieves easier.’
Four special teams are searching for the remaining three accused.
The four absconding gang members were identified as Mithun Kumar (28), Sobind Kumar (29), Sunny Dayal (28) and Vipin Kumar Verma. One of them was arrested by the police after an encounter late on Monday night. Four special teams have been formed to search for the remaining three accused. Further investigation is underway to uncover the gang’s large network and past crimes. DCP East announced a reward of Rs 25,000 for the team that cracked the case.
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