Rs. 3 lakh looted in broad daylight from Lala SBI branch

An amount of Rs. 3 lakh was looted from a person inside State Bank of India, Lala bazar branch, in Hailakandi district on Tuesday.

Sources said the incident took place around 12:10pm on Tuesday afternoon when Nurul Islam Laskar, a resident of Lala, went to SBI, Lala branch, around 55km from Silchar, to deposit an amount of Rs. 2, 59,000 regarding the last installment for Haj (pilgrimage) of four persons including him. Rs. 3 lakh (including Rs. 2,59,000) and another Rs. 31,000 in cash was there in a bag with Nurul, sources said.

When Nurul was filling up the form for depositing the amount, a youth snatched his bag and fled. Though some customers inside the bank tried to get hold of the youth after Nurul raised an alarm, but they failed to do so as the youth whisked away in a flash, sources said.

Receiving the news, a team of police reached the spot and started an investigation into the matter. However, there was no arrest made in this connection, as per last available reports.

Lala police station’s officer in-charge Liton Nath said CCTV footage had been collected from the bank and a probe has underway. Hopefully, the culprit will be in police net soon, he said.

District Haj Committee’s joint-secretary Hafij Abul Hussain Mazarbhuiya contacted Hailakandi superintendent of police Mohneesh Mishra and demanded that the amount looted be recovered and the youth involved in the incident be arrested at the earliest.

Mazarbhuiya also raised questions on the bank’s security and stressed that a probe should be conducted into the matter.