Barely 20 days after a bank robbery in Baddi, armed robbers today looted Rs 6.8 lakh from the branch of UCO bank at Industrial Estate, Barotiwala.

Sources in the police revealed that seven or eight robbers in the age group of 30 to 35 years entered the bank at about 1:50 pm and overpowered the security guard of the bank on gun point. While four of them, armed with pistols and revolvers, entered the bank, others stood guard outside the bank.

One of the robbers pointed a gun at the manager and asked him to hand over the cash and open the strong room. Two others positioned themselves in the main hall and forced all those inside the bank into a corner and asked them to sit silently with their heads down. After collecting the cash from the strong room, two of them remained positioned in the bank while two others sped away with the cash on a motorcycle, towards Haryana. Later, the two inside the bank also fled away along with their accomplices in a Tata Sumo jeep. Surprisingly, they did not take the cash lying on the counter of the bank. An eyewitness said the whole affair took barely fifteen minutes.

Baddi SP Sumedha Diwedi could not be contacted, while DIG, Southern Range, Pardeep Kumar, who was on way to Barotiwala, confirmed the robbery. He expressed his inability to provide complete details of the incident.

On May 1, armed robbers had looted Rs 74,290 from a branch of United bank of India in Baddi on May 1.

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