BARBIL/KEONJHAR: In a daring heist, armed robbers decamped with 3.7 kg gold jewellery worth over Rs 5 crore along with Rs 4.35 lakh cash by holding staff and customers at gunpoint in the Bank of Maharashtra branch in Barbil on Monday.
The incident took place around 2.05 pm when about five to six masked robbers entered the branch located along Barbil-Kalinga state highway and carried out the entire plan in just 15-20 minutes. The bank branch is located near the Truck Owners Association office.
Police sources said, just two bank staff and a handful of customers were present when the robbers walked in. Holding the staff at gunpoint, the robbers first collected the mobile phones of all customers. The helmet wearing miscreants then locked them inside a room and forced the branch manager to open the locker where mortgaged gold jewellery was kept. Before leaving, they also took away the CCTV recorder, but returned the mobile phones to the customers and bank staff.
Since the bank primarily offers goal loans, the robbers are believed to have targeted the branch. They chose the immediate post-lunch hours to rob the bank as attendance is generally thin around the time. Also, there was no security guard present at the branch when the incident took place.
Robbers likely to have fled to J’khand after daylight heist, police start search
On receiving information, Keonjhar SP Nitin Kushalkar Dagdu along with a team rushed to the spot. He questioned the bank employees and the customers present at the branch. Roads connecting the area were sealed off to prevent escape by the robbers. It is suspected that the robbers might have taken the road to Jharkhand as it is very close to Barbil town.
According to the Barbil police, all banks of the town had been clearly advised in a joint meeting held during December 2025, to install hidden cameras, dummy DVR and frontage camera.
They were also instructed to save data in cloud format and deploy armed guards in compliance with standard operating procedures issued by DIG, Western range.
Police are verifying whether the guidelines were maintained at the bank. While a search operation has been launched, police are closely examining the CCTV footage of the surrounding areas. No one has been arrested so far.