Badasahi: Robbers looted assets from an Odisha Gramaya Bank branch at Pratapur under Badasahi block in Mayurbhanj district late Wednesday night after tying the night watchman, but failed to loot cash.
The robbers threatened the watchman at gunpoint and tied his limbs. Locals blamed the incident on power cut which was carried out to ensure safety of elephants. Thursday, they staged a road blockade for hours.
Meanwhile, a scientific team of police from Baripada with a sniffer dog started an investigation of the bank heist.
Reports said, the bank operates on the premises of the panchayat office. Ananta Panda, the night watchman, saw three miscreants cutting the grille of the bank at 1 am.
As he raised an alarm, the robbers broke open his room and tied him with adhesive tape at gunpoint. The robbers were communicating in Hindi. They broke open an window at the backside of the bank and entered.
Then, they had entered the strong room and the room of the manager by breaking open the locks. The robbers had tried to break open the locker, but failed.
The dacoits had taken away the CCTV hard disk and the computer CPU.
Ananta after remaining tied for two hours managed to shout while there was pitch dark in the area due to power cut. Locals rushed there and rescued Ananta.
Locals were upset that there were power cuts and blocked the Badashai-Baripada road for hours. In these days of power cuts, the incident has triggered fear among.
PNN