Hand and Early Morning

It was early morning on Friday. The State Bank had just opened. There was quite a big rush of customers. Some had come to deposit money while others had come to withdraw it. The counter clerks were busy and no one noted the coming in of four stout youths. They entered the bank. They cut off all telephone wires and then ordered the staff to raise their hands up. They took out their pistols and ordered the staff to march into the strong room and locked them up there. Left alone, they went to the cash counter, collected all the money they could lay their hand on and then quietly slipped out of the bank. A car was waiting for them and off they drove away. No one knew from where they had come and where they were bound for. As soon as they were gone, it was rumored that the robbers had run away with Rs. 500,000, The bank suffered a great loss. As soon as the news of the dacoity spread, the police rushed to the place. They interrogated the people who were present there. They noted down the details. Messages were flashed in all directions to catch the dacoits, who were all young but seemed to be hardened criminals. The car which the dacoits had used was found abandoned in a nearly place. It was a stolen car and belonged to an industrialist of the locality. The bank handed over the matter to CBI but as yet no trace of the culprits has been