Presence of mind and a sense of duty displayed by bank staff saved the bank 30 kg gold, valued at Rs 3 crore kept in the locker.
Two dacoits struck at Kotekaru Agriculture Co-operative Bank, Talapady, on Friday afternoon wielding knifes. There were 3 staff members at the bank, others had gone for namaz.
The dacoits threatened the security guard Umesh (60) and pushed him inside. They threatened bank manager Manohar, staff Sudhir and gold evaluator Ramachandra to keep down their mobiles. Then they pushed the three, along with the security guard into the toilet and locked them. In 5 minutes they broke open the locker and filled a bag with gold ornaments pledged.
Just in the nick of time, when they were trying to escape on the bike Ramachandra broke open the fiber door of the toilet, came out and when he saw the robbers trying to escape he took a huge stone lying and hit the rider with it on his chest. He also shouted at a bakery man for help, who hit the pillion with a stone. Both got hit and fearing getting caught they ran away leaving the booty behind.
Ullal inspector Gopalakrishna and ACP Shruthi visited the bank. Investigations are on.