In a broad daylight robbery, a miscreant escaped with Rs10 lakh from the head-cashier's cabin in Union Bank of India's Bistupur branch situated at Kamani Centre on Friday morning.
The incident took place when head-cashier Jaya Majumdar took out Rs45 lakh from the bank's vault for giving out to the staff of the Cash Management System (CMS), an organisation which deposits cash in the ATMs of the Union Bank of India.
"We are in a state of shock . How come such an incident can happen. As Majumdar was talking to a customer a youth of around 25 years old snatched away two bundles after pushing open the head-cashier's cabin. She shouted when she saw the youth carrying away the cash," said a bank official.
The bank management soon informed the police, leading City SP, Karthik S, deputy SP, J Karketta and officer-in-charge Bistupur police station, Jitendra Kumar to arrive at the bank.
Sources informed that the surprising angle into the incident is that the bank branch has neither any security guard nor a CCTV camera. One of the staff of the bank said that when the money was stolen from the cabin, the head-cashier was talking to a customer.
"It is equally surprising the customer who was talking to the head-cashier had also vanished away from the bank premises. We suspect that there two people inside the bank for stealing the money and both were well informed. They must have observed the movement of the bank staff closely," said the staff.
City SP, Karthik S said that the investigation was on, however, as per the initial information it was due to negligence on the part of the bank staff that the theft took place.
"We are surprised that there was no CCTV camera inside the bank nor there any security guard. Moreover, as there was a renovation work going on inside the bank premises the bank management should have asked the police to provide necessary security," Karthik pointed out.
Expressing confidence that steps would be taken to nab the culprits, Karthik said the thief picked up only two bundles consisting of Rs5 lakh each so that he may not draw attention of the visitors or any other staff while taking away with the stolen money.
Meanwhile, the police have registered a case of theft on the basis of a FIR lodged by the branch manager, Niranjan Kumar and have started probe into the case.