Thieves dig 25-foot tunnel to rob bank

Mumbai: A daring heist has been uncovered where a group of burglars dug a 25-foot-long tunnel from within a shop they had rented in May into the locker room of the Bank of Baroda's Juinagar branch, decamping with loot worth crores.

The crime was discovered on Monday morning. Of the 224 lockers in the bank, 30 were found broken. There was no CCTV inside the bank, according to the police.  

Stating that the value of the stolen property is yet to be ascertained, Navi Mumbai police commissioner Hemant Nagrale said, “We have some leads.”

The accused used to sell farsan at the shop, but it was closed most of time. The tunnel was three-feet-wide, allowing two persons to easily crawl through. According to the police, the accused used plywood and bamboo for support. The accused had apparently filled gunny sacks with the loosened soil and disposed of them during the nighttime.

“Some women had noticed mud in the shop a few days ago but were ignorant of the accused's intentions,” said a police officer.

The burglars dug a 25-feet tunnel and broke open 30 out of the 224 bank lockers.

Recounting how the crime came to light, victim Rupali Adagale, who visited the bank on Monday morning to get her jewellery from her locker ahead of a wedding her family, said, “I tried to open the door to the lockers, but it wouldn't yield. I then called a bank officer and we pried it open.”

She said that on opening the door, they notice that few lockers were open.

“Many locks were lying broken and scattered on the ground. I immediately called out to the bank officers. They, in turn, called the police. I was so shocked, could not hold back my tears,” Ms Adagale said.  She lost more than 200 grams of jewellery.

Pravin Thakur, 50, who rushed to the bank on hearing the news, was trembling when he enquired about the fate of his locker, and almost collapsed on being told that it had been broken open. He lost jewellery that was in his family's possession for half a century.

An offence has been registered at the Sanpada police station under Sections 454, 457 and 380 of the Indian Penal Code, which deal with lurking house-trespass or house-breaking in order to commit offence punishable with imprisonment, lurking house-trespass or house-breaking by night in order to commit offence punishable with imprisonment and Theft in dwelling house, etc, respectively.