Four involved in Rs31 lakh heist in Mumbai

Four gunmen wearing handkerchiefs around their faces robbed a bank in Malad of Rs31 lakh in broad daylight on Monday.

The men reached the Model Cooperative Bank on the busy Orlem Tank road around 4.30pm brandishing revolvers. They pushed the security guard, who was unarmed, inside the bank and threatened the employees and customers with dire consequences if they did not follow orders, the police said.

Two of the four robbers told them to surrender their mobile phones, while another cut off the bank’s telephone line. The robbers then shoved everyone except the bank manager and a clerk into a small room and bolted it from outside.

Then they told the manager to open the safe and hand over the cash. They got their hands on Rs29 lakh, which they put in a plastic bag they had brought with them. They also took away Rs2 lakh kept on the cash counter.

They then threatened the manager and the clerk with revolvers, and quickly left the bank, pulling down the shutter. They sped away on motorbikes.

The robbers did not take with them the mobile phones they had confiscated at the bank, probably because they were smart enough to know that they could be tracked through SIM-tracing technology. Also, they did not look in the direction of the CCTV cameras inside the bank.

“We have started an investigation on the basis of the CCTV footage and statements of all who were present at the bank,” said deputy commissioner of police, zone-11, Sharda Nikam. “It could be that the accused had done a recce of the bank and the area where it is located.”

In their police statement, witnesses have said the robbers seemed to be aged 25-30 and knew about the layout of the bank and the location of the safe.