Imphal, Oct 16 (IANS): An unidentified lone gunman looted Rs 6 lakh from a public sector bank in Manipur's Kakching district on Wednesday afternoon, officials said.

Police said that the armed man stormed into a UCO Bank branch in Kakching Bazar and looted the man.

Citing the CCTV footage, they said that the masked man forced the unarmed bank guard and other officials to open the lockers and cash counters to loot the money. He then fled.

Soon after the incident, senior police officials along with additional force rushed to the spot and launched a search operation to nab the robber.

An investigation is underway and further details are awaited.

Last year also, gangs of masked armed men looted banks in Manipur on two occasions.

A sum of Rs 18.85 crore was looted from a Punjab National Bank (PNB) branch in Ukhrul town on November 30 last year. A sum of Rs 1 crore was looted by the armed gang from an Axis Bank branch in Churachandpur district in July last year.

In another development, the Churachandpur district authority has clamped curfew for three days from Wednesday. An official said that District Magistrate Dharun Kumar S, apprehending violence, imposed the curfew under Section 163 of BNSS,2023 to prevent any untoward incident.

".... report has been received from the Superintendent of Police, Churachandpur that, there is a serious apprehension of breach of law-and-order situation in the entire town areas of the district which will be detrimental to the general public peace and tranquillity," .... upon careful consideration, there is an urgent need to maintain law and order to prevent any untoward incident of violence from occurring," the DM’s order said.