BENGALURU: In a broad daylight robbery bid, four armed men barged into a private gold loan office at RPC Layout near Vijayanagar. But the accused managed to escape on bikes when the panicked staff and customers raised an alarm. The incident took place on a busy road on Tuesday afternoon.
A senior police officer said that around 12.15 pm, a man entered the branch office of India Infoline Finance Limited (IIFL) posing as a customer. After a while, three men wearing helmets barged into the office located on the first floor and one of them held the security guard Nanjundaswamy at gunpoint.
The scared guard kept quiet, while the two other accused went inside to the cash counter and the manager’s chamber.
A woman staffer, Soumya, who had gone to the ground floor was walking towards the office and noticed the man threatening the guard. She started screaming and a customer too shouted for help.
Sensing trouble, the accused pushed the guard in and fled the scene on their bikes. Meanwhile, other staff members of the branch alerted Vijaynagar police, who visited the spot along with dog squad and fingerprint expert.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that the security guard was confused after seeing the gang dressed in khaki uniforms and helmets. He mistook them for policemen and so allowed them to enter. The crime was captured on CCTV camera and we are tracing the identity of the accused. According to eyewitnesses, the pistol one of the accused was holding could have been a toy gun, but we suspect they may have come with lethal weapons to threaten the staff,” the officer said.
He added that two special teams had been formed to nab the gang. “We are verifying the CCTV footage to find out the registration numbers of the bikes used by the accused,” the officer added.
It is also said that the accused may have planned for the robbery well in advance and police are also not ruling out the role of insiders.
First Strike
It may be recalled that on September 14, 2013, two armed men had barged into India Infoline Finance Limited (IIFL) at BEML Layout III Stage near Rajarajeshwari Nagar and escaped with over 9 kg gold jewellery worth Rs 3 crore and Rs 6 lakh in cash. The accused were wearing full-face helmets and had locked up over 10 people in the strong room, before fleeing on a bike.
