At around 2:35 on Monday afternoon, a bank was looted in Punjab's Jalandhar. Twenty four hours later, the police have recovered half the money and arrested the mastermind, who is the son of a retired high-ranking policeman.
A manhunt is underway for the accomplice.
Simranjit Singh alias Amrik Singh, a resident of Green Model Town, who is being described as the alleged mastermind is the son of a retired Deputy Superintendent of Police, a high-ranking state police official.
A revolver, which was a licenced weapon, three live cartridges, and a portion of the stolen money (Rs 3 lakh) were recovered from the accused, who is reportedly a drug addict.
The suspect has a criminal record with at least two prior cases registered against him in Batala and SAS Nagar, police said.
Two masked robbers, riding a black Activa scooter, looted Rs 6,27,700 within just two minutes and fled the scene. The incident was reported from a branch of State-owned Punjab National Bank, where no security guard was present at the time.
According to sources, the accused had previously conducted a reconnaissance of the bank and was aware that the crowd inside is sparse during the afternoon hours and that no security guard is present.
According to Police Commissioner Dhanpreet Kaur, three employees and three customers were present in the bank after lunch.
One of the robbers, wearing a red jacket and armed with a pistol, approached the cashier and demanded cash, while the second accused, wearing a blue shirt, stood by with a sharp-edged weapon, a witness said.
The cashier handed over all the cash present at the counter to the robbers and the accused stuffed the money into a carry bag and fled the scene, police said.
The entire incident was captured by the CCTV cameras installed in the bank.
