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Customers looted in daring bank robbery at Hauz Khas

NEW DELHI: Four armed young men took a woman hostage at gun-point and committed robbery inside UCO Bank at Hauz Khas here on Monday.

The miscreants robbed customers present inside the bank of cash amounting to several thousand rupees and reportedly took away Rs.6 lakh in cash from the cash counter. The police, however, denied that any cash was taken away from the counter.

Forty-year-old Ritu Singh, a Gurgaon resident, was coming out of the bank around 4 p.m. after depositing cash when the robbers trained a gun at her and forcibly took her inside the bank. They then went about robbing other customers inside the bank of their cash.

One of the victims, Prakash Chand, who had gone to the bank to deposit cash, said: “When I entered the bank, I found everything topsy-turvy. Two young men had pistols in their hands and everyone appeared to be in a state of shock. I panicked and tried to rush out, but one of the robbers hit me on the head with a pistol. I fell down and the robbers fired a few shots on the ground asking me to hand over my wallets. The others also handed over their cash without offering any resistance.”

The two then turned towards the cash counter and reportedly took away some cash from the cashier. Two of their accomplices were keeping a vigil outside the bank all the while. The four then sped away on motorcycles.

Categorically denying reports of cash being looted from the bank counter, Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said: “The robbers took away Rs.25,000 in cash from a woman and robbed another man of his wallet.” The bank cashier was not robbed of any cash.”

One of the bank security guards had left the job a few days ago while the other was unwell and did not report for duty on Monday. The police suspect that the robbers were aware of the fact that the security guard would not be present in the bank on Monday. “We are looking at all possibilities. We are also questioning locals to find out if they had seen any suspicious movement in the area,” said a senior police officer.

A case has been registered at the Hauz Khas police station.

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