Masked dacoits robbed more than Rs50 lakh at gunpoint from the Bank of India branch of Beheramalin Jharsuguda on Thursday.
Most importantly, the miscreants took away with them the hard disc of the bank’s CCTV camera in order to evade their identification.
The incident happened at about 1:45 pm when the bank was in operation. The dacoits, six to eight in number, barged into the cash counter and the strong room keeping the bank staffs and customers hostage.
Eyewitness customers and bank officials said that the dacoits collected all the cash amounting to more than Rs50 lakh and fled away.
Senior police officials including district Superintendent of Police Umashankar Dash and the SDPO reached the spot and began investigation into the incident by sealing all roads connecting the district.
The eyewitness said that the dacoits were speaking among themselves in Hindi.
In another heist, a total of Rs10 lakh in cash was looted by four miscreants from the UCO Bank’s Dhalapur branch in Dhenkanal district also at gunpoint.
Sources said the miscreants entered the bank, terrorised the bank staffs and fled by two motorcycles along with the cash.
Police reached the spot and recovered Rs1 lakh from outside the bank which is suspected to be thrown by the miscreants.