The four assailants panicked at the sound and fled, the police said. A call about the incident went to the police at 10.15 am.

K L Girotra, a senior manager at the branch, said there was approximately Rs 55 lakh in the bank when the incident occurred. There were six employees inside the bank, including the security guard, when the incident occurred, Girotra said.

The bank employees have told the police that one Raj Kumar, employed as a clerk, pressed the buzzer when the four assailants, each carrying a pistol, rounded up the employees and made them stand near the bathroom.

Pawan Kumar, the security guard on duty, said the four assailants entered in a group of two and dispersed quickly. One of them, Raj Kumar said, approached his counter and planted himself there. “I asked him what he wanted, and he replied: ‘cash’. He then took out a pistol and put it on my forehead,” Raj Kumar said. The guard positioned his rifle. “But another assailant, positioned at the other end of the bank, came near me and aimed a pistol on my forehead,” he said. “Then a third man snatched my rifle and pinned me down on the floor.”

He said the fourth assailant at this point began manhandling the employees and rounding them up in a corner beside the bathroom. They also fired at the roof to scare the occupants.

Raj Kumar said, “As they pushed us top a corner beside the bathroom, I sneaked in and pressed the buzzer. The assailants asked us who had pressed it; we said someone from outside had done it. They seemingly panicked at this and ran away from the bank.”

The guard fired a couple of shots but the staff said the assailants fled, safely, in a white Innova. The cashier, Rajiv Chaudhary, said he handed over the keys to the cash vault: “They had pistols, they seemed imported — we were scared to death.”