Baleshwar: Five persons have been arrested in connection with the alleged armed dacoity at an Odisha Grameen Bank branch in Baleshwar district, police said on Wednesday.
The incident took place on September 8 when six miscreants allegedly entered the bank branch at Khaprapada under Baliapal police station limits, brandished a gun and other lethal weapons, assaulted employees and beat up the bank manager before looting ₹13,80,444 from the cash counter. The accused also locked the other bank employees inside a room before fleeing the spot.
Following the incident, two special teams were formed under the direction of the Baleshwar SP and DIG, Eastern Range, Baleshwar, to trace the accused. Under the supervision of Basta SDPO Samartha Kumar Behera, the teams conducted raids at several locations in West Bengal, including Rampur under Sandeshkhali police station, Chandibali under Jibantala police station, Sonarpur and Chatpur under Mahendrapur police station limits.
Police subsequently arrested five of the accused and seized a motorcycle, a country-made gun and three unspent rounds of ammunition from their possession.
The search is underway for the sixth accused, while efforts are also on to recover the looted cash and other materials allegedly used in the crime, SDPO Behera said at a press conference held at the Baliapal police station premises.
