LUDHIANA: An unidentified man escaped after stealing Rs 23,500 from a woman and her daughter inside a bank near Clock Tower on Monday afternoon. The duo had withdrawn Rs 1.08 lakh to repay the money they borrowed to buy a house.
Lalita, 44, and her daughter Ritika, 18, tried to chase the accused, but he made good his escape in the crowded Old City market.
Ritika said, “We live in a rented accommodation in Chawni Mohalla and had recently purchased a house in the same locality. My father is a greengrocer. To purchase the house, he had borrowed Rs 1 lakh from his friend. As we had to return the sum on Monday, I along with my mother came to the bank to withdraw money.”
They withdrew Rs 1.08 lakh. “A man without a mask was standing near me in the bank. He said we should count the money. When we were counting the notes, he snatched a bundle from my hands and said two currency notes were soiled and we should get them changed. I gave those notes to my mother to return and the man handed over the bundle to me. I felt some notes were missing. Before I could stop the man, he ran away from there. I rushed out and tried to chase him, but to no avail,” she added.
Ritika asked the bank employees to check the footage of CCTV cameras installed on the premises as the man was not wearing a mask. “The bank employees told me that the CCTVs were not functioning,” she said.
Division 1 police station SHO sub-inspector Harjit Singh said the statements of the victims have been recorded and an FIR was being lodged.
Police are scanning the footage of CCTV cameras installed in and around the area.
