Vain bid to loot Panchayat office

• Thieves gain entry into office
• Police station next door to office
• Incident creates panic in villagers

Bhimavaram: Thieves made a vain bid to loot the Panchayat office in Veeravasaram on Sunday night. They opened the doors and gained entry into the Panchayat Secretary’s chamber where a sum of Rs 4 lakh was kept for distribution among the pensioners. They tried to brake up the safe locker but failed in their attempt.

The incident came to light when office staff came to the office in the morning. The panchayat office is next door to police station. This incident created a sensation in the village. The villagers are jittery over the way the thieves gained entry into the office though the police station is close to the office.

Fingerprint experts from Eluru rushed to the spot and gathered evidence.

The panchayat office staff said that they withdrew Rs 37 lakh from the bank on Saturday and kept it in the safe. They disbursed pensions on Sunday and put it back in the safe, the remaining Rs 4 lakh.

If the thieves attempted and succeeded on Saturday night, they would have walked away with a huge sum, they added.

Going by the way the incident took place, the panchayat staff suspected the hand of known persons in the attempt to theft.

Following a complaint by the panchayat secretary, the police registered a case.