By IANS
Ranchi : Hours after six robbers looted Rs.17.5 million from a bank here, police managed to trace them and recover the money but three criminals were killed in a shootout.
"Acting on a tip-off, a police team raided a house on the Kachahari road. As the robbers fired, the police retaliated and three robbers were killed in the shootout," Senior Superintendent of Police M.S. Bhatia said.
While one robber was injured and two managed to flee, police recovered the looted cash, he added.
Earlier in the day, the robbers arrived at a branch of Syndicate Bank on the second floor of a building in the heart of the city, around 10.15 a.m., according to eyewitnesses.
They herded bank officials and others into a room at gunpoint and took the key of the chest in which the money was kept.
The cash was then collected in a gunny bag and the gang escaped in an auto rickshaw with no security to stop them.
"They locked the bank officials and other people in one room and took away with Rs.17.5 million from the bank chest," said Richard Lakra, city superintendent of police.
Two police stations are located just a kilometre away from the bank near Firayalal Chowk.