Rs.70 lakh looted from Hapur bank

Seven unidentified robbers Tuesday looted over Rs.70 lakh in cash from a bank in Hapur district of Uttar Pradesh, police said.

The robbers, armed with pistols, knives and knuckle-dusters, looted the District Cooperative Bank in Dhaulana town.

They came on three motorcycles around 1 p.m. at a time when the bank employees were busy transferring cash from a van into the bank.

The robbers overpowered the security guard and snatched his gun, and then snatched the cash box from the bank employees.

The robbers then barged into the bank and took away all the available cash from the cash counter and from the currency chest.

The robbers broke the CCTV cameras and also took away the security guard's gun.

When the bank staffers tried to resist, the robbers hit them with pistol butts.

Six employees, including branch manager Anil, a cashier and the security guard, were injured.

The injured were taken to a hospital, where doctors said the condition of some of them was critical as they had head injuries.

"A team of officers has been set up to nab the criminals. The criminals ran into some villagers in Saulana but succeeded in fleeing with the cash," said Deputy Inspector General of Police K. Satyanarayan, who visited the bank along with district officials.