ITANAGAR, Nov 1 � A gang of three armed miscreants robbed the Naharlagun branch of Arunachal Pradesh Rural Bank in broad daylight today and fled with an amount of Rs 10.74 lakh from the branch.
Police said the three masked criminals entered the bank at E-Sector, Naharlagun this morning soon after the bank opened and had just started the day�s transactions. The miscreants, reportedly locals, locked all three staff of the bank � cashier, record keeper and chowkidar � in one of the bank�s rooms at pistol point and looted Rs 10,74,500 by breaking open the drawer in cashier�s room before decamping with the booty. They also threatened the bank employees and a few customers with dire consequences if an alarm was raised.
As soon as the matter was reported to Naharlagun police station, a team of police personnel, led by officer-in-charge of the PS, T Susen, along with fingerprint experts and sniffer dogs reached the bank.
An alert was sounded across the Capital Complex and all the security check gates bordering Assam were asked to conduct intensive frisking so that the miscreants could not cross over to the neighbouring State.
The police also launched a massive search operation and arrested one of the miscreants, Vinod Ngute (24), near Nirjuli around 12.30 pm and seized some of the looted money, amounting to Rs 39,300, from his possession.
A native of Daporijo, Ngute, who is presently residing at Damsite, Naharlagun was traveling by an Alto with one of his accomplices on the Nirjuli route.
On being asked to stop, both got off the car and started running from the scene. Police also swung into action and nabbed Ngute from the Pachin-Dikrong confluence. His accomplice, however, somehow managed to flee. Police seized the vehicle.
The OC said the absconding accused still remain untraced despite the police manhunt till late evening. He said an all-out effort is on to nab them.
