Tirupati: Alert villagers foil bank robbery attempt in Palamaneru

Tirupati: Efforts made by three unidentified men to rob the Sapthagiri Grameena Bank of Kolamasana Palle village of Plamaneru mandal in Chittoor district in wee hours of Wednesday failed due to alertness of villagers.

According to bank officials, the robbers have planned to rob bank money and gold worth Rs 6 crore.

According to Palamenru CI Jaya Ramaiah, three strangers drilled a big hole on backside of bank building wall and entered the bank through that hole. Later, they succeeded in breaking strongroom door by using gas cutters. During that time, a resident in adjacent house of bank woke up for nature's call and heard some sounds from bank building. Immediately, he alerted the bank staff, who are living in the same village, through phone. Around 1 am, bank staff and a few villagers reached the bank premises and shouted to alert all. By the villagers' shouts, the unidentified men in bank flew from there into fields.

Later, the villagers dialed to 100 and passed on the information about the bank robbery attempt to police. After receiving the information, Plamaneru CI Jayaramaiah, SI Nagaru and their staff reached the spot and collected all details from the officials. In the robbery bid, the robbers used modern equipment to drill the bank building wall and used gas cutters to open the strongroom lock and CC Camera wires too. SP S Senthil Kumar enquired about the incident and instructed the police officials concerned to nab the culprits