Bank heist probe stuck at damaged cameras

AHMEDABAD: A gang of 17 persons, who pretended to be account holders, allegedly stole Rs 20 lakh from the Memnagar branch of the State Bank of India (SBI) in the Gurukul area of the city earlier this month. The investigation into the incident is now stuck because there is no CCTV footage of the area outside the bank available, as those cameras were allegedly damaged during the 2015 Patidar quota stir.
A police official said they secured some CCTV footage from inside the banks and some footage from cameras outside the bank. The 17 persons allegedly involved in the offence, were seen going in different directions. No further footage of those persons was available as other cameras were not working.
“These cameras were damaged during the violence that broke out after Hardik Patel’s rally in August 2015. During the violence, cameras installed in the Memnagar and Ghatlodia areas were broken, so we are stuck because of the lack of evidence in this case,” said a senior police officer of Ghatlodia police station.
Police earlier said 14 persons were involved in the case but they later found 17 persons were involved.
Sources in the police said a team of city crime branch has also been deployed to trace the case.
On August 7, Gautam Chandulal Shah, a cashier, told the branch manager of SBI Memnagar, Hemant Choksi, that 40 bundles of a hundred Rs 500 notes each, were missing from the cash tray where he had put them. Bank staff then looked for the bundles in and around the premises, but did not find anything.
The branch manager and other staff then checked CCTV footage and found that a man wearing a cap had put the entire cash tray, with Rs 20 lakh in it, into a bag he was carrying. Sixteen other persons who came as account holders, were seen leaving the bank along with him.
These persons, all between 40 and 45 years, came as customers and stood in different queues. One of them started raising queries with the cashier while another, standing in another queue, took the cash in a matter of seconds.