3 min readMumbaiDec 1, 2017 05:22 AM IST
First published on: Dec 1, 2017 at 05:22 AM IST
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An unemployed electrical engineer was arrested Wednesday after he allegedly tried to rob a south Mumbai bank wielding a toy gun. The man entered the bank near Nariman Point holding the gun and asked everyone to lie down on the floor, the branch manager has told the police. It was only after a police team reached the spot that it came to light that he was using a toy gun to hold the bank employees to ransom.
The incident took place around 9.40 am. The police team had reached the spot after branch manager Himanshu Shukla managed to inform the police control room about the incident. A patrolling van reached the spot and nabbed the accused, who was identified as Bhavesh Sudharshan Lekhak (35).
Shukla, in his statement to the police, said, “We opened the branch at 9.10am, following which the other employees started coming in. At around 9.40am, the accused entered the branch and held the watchman at gunpoint.”
Lekhak then asked everyone in the bank to lie down on the floor.
“The gunman rushed towards the cashier and asked her to give him the money from her teller,” said the complainant. Simultaneously Lekhak ordered one of the visitors to close the shutters of the branch. The visitor saw the police team which entered the branch and nabbed Lekhak.
Senior police inspector Rashmi Jadhav from Cuffe Parade police station said, “We dispatched our nearest patrolling team to the spot immediately after we got the alert. We then got the accused to the police station.”
Lekhak is a resident of Pune. The investigators believe he had misled them initially saying he stayed in Mulund. The police are, however, still verifying Lekhak’s claims.
Lekhak, an electrical engineer, told the police that he decided to rob the bank out of despair after running up a huge debt. “Lekhak was jobless since long and didn’t have money to take care of his basic needs and hatched a plan to rob a bank,” said an officer. He added, “We have been verifying his claims. When we contacted his parents, they said Lekhak had left the house long ago and had never returned.”
The accused has been booked under sections 393 (attempt to commit robbery) and 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement) of the Indian Penal Code. He was produced in court on Thursday and remanded in police custody till December 4. sagar.rajput@expressindia.com
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