Over Rs.3.5 mn robbed from Ghaziabad bank

Ghaziabad, Dec 17 (IANS) Four armed men robbed over Rs.3.5 million at gun point from a bank here Wednesday evening. They took away the gun of a bank guard, the police said.

The armed robbers barged into the Sahibabad branch of ICICI Bank at Kaushambi and looted over Rs.3.5 million.

Though the police said that the robbers took away Rs.3.5 million, the bank officials said that the amount could be more.

According to Sandeep Gupta, ICICI Bank regional head, the robbers entered the branch premises at around 6.30 p.m. when two guards were inside the branch.

Initially, two robbers entered the branch premises and threatened 10 staff-members and about 12 customers at gun point. 'Two other robbers then entered the bank premises and took away the entire cash,' Gupta said.

An eyewitness said: 'We were quite lucky that no untoward incident happened during the period as the robbers were armed with pistols. When a staff member tried to call up she was asked to stop.'

Besides the cash, the robbers took away the gun belonging to Ved Prakash, a guard. They also took away a computer with them, an official said.

'The bank has alarm system button attached to every staff member's seat but they did not use it in the time of emergency,' Indirapuram police station officer Samarjeet Singh said.