Burqa clad gunmen loot 5 Lakh from Arwani Branch of JK Bank
Gunmen, suspected to be militants Monday looted more than five Lakh Rupees from a Business Unit of the Jammu and Kashmir Bank in Arwani village of Anantnag district. The gunmen entered the bank wearing a Burqa.
Witnesses said, that once the gunmen were inside, they took off the Burqas, brandished their weapons and fled with the money. As per eyewitnesses’ accounts, three gunmen entered the bank around 12 pm.
“They ransacked the computers among other things and fled with cash of more than Rs five lakh from the cash counter,” a witness, said, requesting anonymity .
A CCTV footage obtained from sources reveals that two gunmen held the employees on the gunpoint, while as the third one went towards the back office area and threatened the manager to hand over the cash to him.
The gunmen also smashed the dividers on the front office desk and continuously threatened the staff for raising an alarm. The bank staff was asked to keep their hands raised so that they will not be able to alarm the security guards outside.
However, the gunmen who committed the act left the Business Unit after some time. Soon Police reached the premises and conducted search operation in the area, however nothing suspicious was found there.
A spate of bank robberies early this year forced banks to go for cashless banking in South Kashmir. But with an improvement in the security situation, banks resumed cash dispensation in the region where militancy is on the rise.
Pertinently, Monday’s daylight robbery is the first in nearly three months and the seventh in last one year in Kashmir Valley.
Police says that militants are were directly involved in the bank robberies, however, militants have been refuting the police charge.
Meanwhile, police has blamed militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen for today’s robbery.
A olice spokesman said that, militants belonging to HM outfit barged into J&K Bank Branch Arwani in the jurisdiction of Police Station Bijbehara, Anantnag today in the afternoon and looted about rupees 5.20 Lacs.
Police has registered a case and investigation was set into motion. During the initial investigation and with the help of CCTV footage, it was found that HM militants are involved this crime.
Efforts are on to nab the culprits, the spokesman added.
LOOT TRAIL
On 21 November 2016 gunmen looted Rs 12 lakh cash Jammu and Kashmir Bank at Malpora in Charwani area in Charar-e-Sharif area of central Kashmir’s Budgam district.
Four masked gunmen barged into the Jammu and Kashmir Bank branch at Arihal in Pulwama district on 8 December 2016 and took away Rs 10 lakhs cash at gunpoint.
On December 15, 2016, masked gunmen looted Rs 11 lakh cash from JK Bank in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
On 16 February 2017, four masked gunmen looted Rs 3 lakh from JK Bank branch in Turqwangam village in Shopian district of south Kashmir.
On 19 April this year, unidentified gunmen looted away Rs 5 lakh cash from the Harmain branch of JK Bank.
On May 1, militants attacked a cash van of Jammu and Kashmir bank and shot dead five policemen and two bank security guards in Damhal Hanji Pora area of Kulgam district in South Kashmir.
On May 2, unidentified gunmen barged into the Yaripora branch of Ellaqaui Dehati bank and took away Rs 65,000.
On May 3 three suspected militants barged into a branch of the Ellaquai Dehati Bank in Waibug Pulwama took away approximately Rs 5 lakhs.
On may 3 Militants targeted a branch of the Jammu and Kashmir Bank at Nehama and looted of Rs 1.33 lakh.
KV Correspondent
