7 held for bank operator’s murder

The Fatehabad police have arrested seven persons in connection with the murder of an operator of SBI’s Grahak Sewa Kendra at Thuyan village on April 4.

The accused have been identified as Shakti, Ankush, Abhishek alias Abhi, Ankit, all residents of Kaithal district; Sushil and Rohtash alias Tassi of Fatehabad district and Vikram of Hisar district.

Addressing a press conference, Fatehabad superintendent of police (SP) Astha Modi said that all four accused from Kaithal had fired shots at operator Pradeep Kumar on the evening of April 4 to execute dacoity at Grahak Sewa Kendra, where daily ₹4-5 lakh were deposited by the customers.

“The plan to execute dacoity at SBI’s Grahak Sewa Kendra was orchestrated by Shakti Singh, Vikram, Sushil and Rohtash as they all were lodged together in a Rajasthan jail in 2024. The recce was done by Sushil, Rohtash and Vikram in March and on April 4 again. Four assailants visited the kendra and fired three shots at operator Pradeep, who was rushed to a hospital in Hisar, where he died during treatment,” the SP added.

She said that the dacoity bid was planned as the Grahak Sewa Kendra was away from district headquarters and the attackers hoped for an easy escape. The SP said that the operator had thrown keys of the money locker outside the kendra when the attackers fired shots at him, and they failed to loot the money. The assailants managed to flee with a laptop, which was recovered. The police are yet to recover two weapons used in the crime.