Armed gang tries to rob SBI branch at Bhokar near Jalgaon; villagers foil it, five held

An armed attempt was made on Saturday afternoon to rob the State Bank of India branch at Bhokar village in Jalgaon taluka. The attempt failed because of the alertness and courage of villagers. The incident has caused a stir across the district. No one had any idea that the young men going around the village on the pretext of selling bedsheets were actually preparing to rob the bank.

According to the information available, a gang of seven to eight men had been keeping watch on the bank for some time. Residents had seen some young men going around the village selling bedsheets, so nobody paid special attention to their movements. It was suspected later that these same men, in the guise of bedsheet sellers, were hatching a plan to rob the bank.

Choosing the time when bank employees were on their lunch break, the gang suddenly entered the bank. They were carrying weapons and, threatening the staff at gunpoint, held them in one place. The employees were badly shaken by the sudden turn of events. An attempt was then made to take away the gold biscuits and jewellery kept in lockers in the strong room. The gang also tried to stuff as much cash as they could into bags. Within moments, there was chaos in the bank.

As word of the commotion in the bank reached outside, villagers became suspicious. When they realised that the young men who had been going around the village selling bedsheets were involved, they began chasing them. A scuffle broke out between the suspects and the villagers. Some of the men managed to flee, but villagers caught and held three of them. They were then handed over to the police.

Dharangaon police acted within a few hours. With the help of local residents, they set up a blockade near the Chavalkheda railway tunnel and caught two suspects. The two taken into custody are Shankar Ramesh Jasak (42, a resident of Muktainagar, currently living in Jalgaon) and Gajanan Rajendra Pawar (32, a resident of Naydongri, Nandgaon taluka, Nashik district).

Suspicious bags have been seized from them. They may contain cash or gold jewellery from the robbery. The police had earlier taken three men into custody with the help of villagers. In all, five suspects are now in police custody, and the police are questioning them.