High drama prevailed in the Sevagram branch of Central Bank when an alleged ‘suicide bomber’ walked into the bank and handed a letter to Bank Manager, threatening to blow the branch if Rs 55 lakh cash was not handed over to him within 15 minutes. The bank staff somehow alerted cops and the fake bomber was arrested. According to details, the working of the Central Bank began as usual on Saturday when at around 2.30 pm, the peon of the Bank escorted a man into Manager’s cabin.

 

The man, wearing a mask, handed over a piece of paper to Manager Chetna Khobragade. Thinking it to be a note of complaint or request for some requirement, Chetna read it and was left utterly shocked. The note stated that the man was suffering from some disease and needed money for expensive treatment. It informed that the man was a ‘suicide bomb’ and he had activate the bomb while entering the bank. He said, he had just 15 minutes after which he along with the bank will be blown off. He threatened to kill anyone who tried to stop him. He demanded that the bank should immediately hand him cash of Rs 55 lakh after which he will walk out of the bank and no one will be harmed. While the manager kept the man engaged, other staffers of the bank alerted cops as Sevagram Police Station is situated just opposite the Bank. Seeing cops walk into the bank, the man tried to escape but soon, after a little commotion, cops with the help of people succeeded in catching hold of him. Meanwhile, a bank employee Jyoti also called the police station and addition force arrived.

 

A closer inspection revealed that the man was wearing a grey vest under his shirt looking like a suicide vest. He had fixed a red cloth that gave the appearance of a bomb and had some coloured wires attacked to it. He had also fixed a digital watch in it. The six pipes used to give the bomb-like look were actually filled plaster of Paris. The black bag that he had brought with him had a knife and a plastic bottle with some coloured liquid. He also had an air pistol, informed police. The man was later identified as Yogesh Kubade, who runs a cyber cafe. “He was trying to pull off the stunt to repay loans, and ordered the items to create his fake bomb online,” said Sub Inspector Ganesh Saykar. He has been booked under section 387 of the IPC.