Police claims bank heists breakthrough

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Chennai Police released Wednesday pictures of a man suspected to be involved in the recent Perungudi and Keelkatta-lai bank heists.

The man is believed to have done a recce of the banks before the armed robberies.

Commissioner J.K. Tripathy also announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for information about the man. Police can be tipped off on toll-free numbers 98408-14100 and 99520-91100.

Mr Tripathy said after the first heist at Bank of Baroda, Perungudi, on January 23, police collected CCTV footage from over 100 banks and zeroed in on the suspect loitering in about five banks.

“We screened 300 hours of video. We were ready with the images on Feb 18 and would have stepped up search, but the gang struck at Keelkattalai IOB on Feb 20.”

Mr Tripathy regretted the ‘victim’ banks did not have CCTVs and 418 of the 1,300 bank branches in Chennai were without proper security systems.