Rs.33 lakh looted from bank van

Meerut, March 31 (IANS) At least six car-borne robbers Saturday looted Rs.33 lakh from a cash van of Axis Bank when its employees were about to load money into an ATM machine in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut city, police said.

Around noon, the robbers forced the van to stop by blocking its path with their car on Garh Road near Anand Hospital.

After the van came to a halt, six armed assailants attacked bank employee Ashish Kumar and looted sacks containing cash and sped away. The van driver and another bank employee, Monu, who was in the vehicle were not attacked.

Ashish was hit on the head with a pistol butt when he resisted the robbery, police said.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Meerut, K. Satyanarayan told IANS: 'We are on the look out for the get-away vehicle the criminals used.'

The van left the bank headquarters with Rs.40 lakh and loaded Rs.5 lakh at one ATM and Rs.2 lakh at another before reaching the spot where the incident took place.

'Three police teams have been constituted to nab the criminals,' said Circle Officer, Civil Lines, Rahul Mithas.