Man gets seven years in jail for attempting to rob a bank

MUMBAI: The sessions court on Tuesday sentenced a man from Bengal to seven years imprisonment for attempting to rob the Charni Road branch of Axis Bank with a knife in 2021.

According to the prosecution, on March 23, 2021, around 9 am, the informant — the Assistant Manager of the Charni Road branch of Axis Bank was busy with his routine work, when around 9.45am, accused Neelkanth Mandal approached the ATM outside the bank.

Mandal approached the assistant manager’s counter with the security guard rushing behind him. Mandal suddenly took out a knife and demanded cash from the informant. He threatened to kill the informant and the security guard if they failed to meet Mandal’s demands.

The informant rushed to the Branch Manager’s cabin and urged him to blow the siren.

During the chaos that followed, Mandal tried to pave his way to the cash counter, but the security guard managed to dodge him, pushing him flat on the floor.

Subsequently, the police were called, and a complaint was lodged at the DB Marg Police Station.

Seeking maximum punishment, public prosecutor Ranjana Budhwant examined a total of 8 witnesses and stated that the evidence of eyewitnesses and the CCTV footage cannot be disregarded as Mandal attempted to commit robbery armed with a deadly weapon and committed criminal intimidation by threatening to kill witnesses with intent to cause alarm.

The accused in his testimony submitted that he had been falsely implicated as he only demanded the money that he allegedly lost in an ATM fraud. The advocate representing the accused argued that the prosecution witnesses were full of contradictions and omissions and hence, not trustworthy.

Rebutting the contentions of the defense and acknowledging the consistency in the evidence, additional sessions judge NP Tribhuwan said, “In the matter of sentencing, it is the duty of the court to ensure that sentencing policy should not only fulfill the aim or reformation and rehabilitation but also be deterrent to deter not only the convicts but others from committing such an offence,” the judge said, noting that Mandal had no criminal background.

Mandal was convicted for committing offences punishable under sections 398 (Attempt to commit robbery or dacoity when armed with a deadly weapon) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.