Tuesday's Rs 17 lakh robbery in front of Punjab National Bank's HAL branch is not the first one making a mockery of the prevailing law and order situation in the state capital.
To start with, on June 8, 2005, three miscreants decamped with over Rs 16 lakh from the safe vault of Union Bank of India's LDA colony branch. The robbers held at gun point over a dozen employees and customers of the bank, situated in a congested pocket of LDA colony, and herded them into a bathroom inside the small premises. They then escaped on a motorcycle without any challenge.
On May 28, 2007, a co-operative bank situated in Madiaon police station area was looted in broad daylight. The modus operandi shows that the miscreants were novices. Not much cash was looted and the gang of six did not make any attempt to look around for more cash. The bank had only two employees present at the time of the loot. The miscreants locked up the two employees in the toilet and took away Rs 53,800 from the cash box kept in the room. It is interesting to note that the gang left some cash in the cash box and did not try to open the locker room.
Not only the state capital, the neighbouring district of Barabanki also witnessed a loot of Rs 50 lakh belonging to the Life Insurance Corporation of India. This was the biggest heist in the district's history. According to an eyewitness, just as the cash was being kept in the boot of the Ambassador car, two young men reached the spot on a motorcycle. They shot at the security guard Shatrughan Lal Yadav, hitting him in the chest, abdomen and back.
They snatched the bag having Rs 50,07,700 and fled on their motorcycle. Similarly, on April 10, 2008, four armed men held the employees of Bank of Rajasthan (Vikasnagar branch) hostage and decamped with over Rs 8 lakh. The robbery lasted barely five minutes. At the time of the robbery there were only three employees in the premises. The telephone of the bank was disconnected for the past few days and the bank does not have a security guard or a close-circuit television connection. The alarm system in place could not be operated apparently out of fear.
However, on April 22, 2008 the bank robbery was solved by the combined efforts of Lucknow police and its crime branch. Three persons were arrested, who confessed their involvement in the crime. The arrested persons were Pradeep Kumar, Govind Mishra and Satish Rawat. The police also recovered from them Rs 1.80 lakh out of the amount of Rs eight lakh that was robbed. Other recoveries were two 315 bore country made pistols with four live cartridges, one 303 bore pistol with two live cartridges, two motorcycles used in the robbery and three cell phones.
In June 2010, panic gripped Hussainganj area when motorcycleborne miscreants opened fire at a 26-year-old youth and looted Rs nine lakh from his possession. The victim suffered bullet injuries and was rushed to Trauma Centre, where he is undergoing treatment. The Hussainganj police got the information about the incident after a considerable delay, as the youth accompanying the victim instead of informing the police, straightaway rushed him to the hospital. Despite several meetings between the cops and bank officials, such incidents have not been curbed till date.