UP: Thieves dig 10-feet-long tunnel to SBI in Kanpur, loot nearly 2 kg of gold

The robbers had dug the tunnel, which was about four feet wide, from an empty plot adjacent to the SBI’s Bhanuti branch, the police said.

The unidentified burglars used a gas cutter to open the locker. They disabled the alarm system and turned the sole CCTV camera in the strongroom the other way.

According to the bank officials, the thieves stole over 1.8 kg of gold which was worth about ₹1 crore.

Police and forensic officials who investigated the ‘robbery’ found the tunnel dug from a vacant plot adjacent to the bank’s strongroom and covered by shrubbery.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Vijay Dhull suspected that some bank insider was also involved in committing this crime.

“It could be an insider’s job who executed the crime with the help of expert criminals. We have found some leads, including fingerprints from the strongroom, that might help crack the heist,” Dhull said.

Preliminary investigations suggest that the thieves must have done a recce of the area and were familiar with the construction and architecture of the bank as well as the strongroom and the gold chest.

The robbery came to light on Friday morning when bank officials found the gold chest and the strongroom door opened, Commissioner of Police BP Jogdand said.

The bank officials also found the tunnel through which the thieves had entered the strongroom, he added.

Senior police officials, forensic experts, and a dog squad reached the bank and launched a probe.

Bank manager Neeraj Rai told the police that the gold belonged to 29 people who had taken loans against it.

A case has been registered under Section 379 (theft) of the Indian Penal Code in the matter. A similar case happened in Kanpur in 1997, wherein burglars had entered SBI’s Govind Nagar branch after digging a 60-metre-long tunnel.