A band of armed robbers looted Rs.25 lakh from the branch of a nationalised bank here, police said.

 

 The half a dozen armed men entered the Vijaya Bank branch in the Agra Cantonment area, forced the staff inside the strong room after beating up those who tried to resist, while cowing the customers at gunpoint. Before fleeing, they set fire to the AC. The smoke suffocated the locked-up staff and customers, many of whom were taken to the hospital.

 

 Senior police officials and army officials reached the bank. 

 

 Police sealed the borders of the city and combed the area but there were no clues till late evening. No one was able to tell police how the robbers escaped from the site.