Samastipur: Armed criminals looted gold worth Rs 5 cr and Rs 15 lakh in cash from a local branch of Bank of Maharashtra at Kashipur under Town police station area in Samastipur district of Bihar on Wednesday.

Police said here that nine armed criminals stormed into Kashipur based Bank of Maharashtra and took all its staff into their captivity at gun point. Later, they looted gold worth Rs 5 crores and Rs 15 lakhs in cash from the Bank and managed to escape from the spot, police added.

"Senior police officials reached on the spot soon after receipt of the incident and started investigation ", police said adding that CCTV footages were being scanned to get clues about the criminals. Raids were being carried out to nab the criminals and recover looted gold and cash from their possession, police informed.