Kanpur shocker! Thieves dig tunnel to steal gold worth Rs 1 crore from SBI branch

In a shocking bank robbery that happened in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, on Friday, the thieves broke into the State Bank of India (SBI) strongroom in Kanpur on the night between Thursday and Friday using a 10-foot-long tunnel and stole gold worth Rs 1 crore.
 
According to the police, the robbers dug the tunnel, which was about four feet wide, from a vacant plot next to the SBI's Bhanuti branch.
 
The locker was opened by unidentified intruders using a gas cutter. They turned off the CCTV camera in the strongroom and turned off the alarm system.
 
The thieves took over 1.8 kg of gold worth about $1 million, according to bank officials.
 
The tunnel was discovered by police and forensic investigators who were looking into the 'robbery'; it had been dug from a vacant plot next to the bank's safe.
 
Vijay Dhull, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West), had suspicions that a bank insider had also been involved in this crime.
 
"It could be an insider's job who executed the crime with the help of expert criminals. We have found some leads, including fingerprints from the strongroom, that might help crack the heist," Dhull said.
 
According to preliminary investigations, the thieves must have conducted a recee of the area and must have been acquainted with the architecture and construction of the bank, as well as the strongroom and the gold chest.
 
According to Police Commissioner BP Jogdand, the robbery was discovered on Friday morning when bank employees discovered the gold chest and the door to the strongroom had been forced open.
 
He continued, "The bank employees also discovered the tunnel through which the thieves had entered the strongroom."
 
Senior police officers, forensic specialists, and a dog squad arrived at the bank and started an investigation.
 
Neeraj Rai, the bank's manager, told the police that the gold belonged to 29 borrowers of loans secured by it.
 
A case has been filed under Section 379 (theft) of the Indian Penal Code. In a similar incident, burglars dug a 60-meter tunnel to access the SBI branch in Govind Nagar in Kanpur in 1997.