Haryana bank heist: Police catch suspects, recover jewellery

Chandigarh:Haryana Police Thursday said they have arrested three people and recovered over 23 kg of ornaments following the daring bank locker heist in Gohana town in which the burglars dug a 125-foot-long tunnel to the locker room from an adjoining building.

"Haryana Police has cracked the Gohana Punjab National Bank lockers burglary case with the arrest of three criminals and recovered gold and silver jewellery weighing 23 kg and 400 grams and Rs.60,000," a police spokesman said here.

The burglars had dug the tunnel from the building adjoining the bank and broken into the locker room of the state-run Punjab National Bank in Gohana, 210 km from here. They broke open 89 of the over 350 lockers in the room. The heist came to light Monday.

All three accused - Surinder, Balraj and Satish - belong to Katwal village of Sonipat district.

Another accused, Mahipal, who owned the building from which the burglars dug the tunnel, was Thursday found dead inside a car on the Panipat highway, in a shocking twist to the case. Police said it appeared Mahipal committed suicide.

Police have booked bank officers for negligence.

Angry customers have been agitating outside the bank branch since Monday. They claim they had lost millions in the form of jewellery and cash.

The Prime Minister's Office had sent a senior security officer to Gohana Tuesday to help police in the investigation.

Haryana Director General of Police S.N. Vashishth, who visited the spot Tuesday, had announced a reward of Rs.10 lakh to anyone giving information about the burglary.