Chennai: Botched burglary attempt at SBM

Chennai: A burglary attempt at the Whites Road branch of the State Bank of Mysuru was botched as the burglar could not drill into the bank.  The All the cash the bank had was accounted for. The incident came to light only on Monday while the attempt was made on Saturday night.

Three burglars had gained entry into the bank by breaking the glass enclosure in the bank’s rear wall. The glass panel was broken first. The trio then broke open the wooden door, which was used to cover the opening meant for the window-mounted AC. After breaking the wooden door, there was a concrete wall built to deter easy break-ins from the old window-AC slot cover. The gang managed to drill through that concrete as well.

While two of them stood guard on the road at around 9 pm, one of them who wore a mask entered into the bank and came out after nearly 3 hours as his attempt to drill into the locker did not materialise. The surveillance cameras inside the bank had captured the futile attempts made by the masked burglar to break into the vault in vain.

The bank has rented the ground floor of the three-storey building while the landlord lives in on the third floor. The landlord had not felt or heard drilling or any such disturbance in the building. The bank had Rs 9 crores, of which Rs 2 crore were demonetised notes and the rest Rs 7 crore in valid tender, in their safe when the burglars had struck in vain. Forensic experts were pressed into service and several sets of fingerprints lifted from the crime scene.