A 20-year-old man from Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, tried to rob a bank on Diwali because he wanted to impress his Canadian girlfriend on Instagram by giving her expensive gifts. Shahid Khan, who is a wall painter, was caught by the police five days after he failed to attempt robbery because they used CCTV footage to track him down.

Attempts robbery to impress girlfriends

In February, Shahid Khan bought a phone and made an Instagram account where he posted his pictures. One day a person from Canada liked his photo, and they started talking. Khan got very interested in this online relationship and wanted to send expensive gifts to his Canadian girlfriend through Amazon. But he didn’t have enough money, so he decided to rob a bank and run away to Mumbai to get the money he needed.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Chiranjeev Nath Sinha said that Shahid wasn’t only trying to impress the Canadian girl. He also had two more girlfriends, one in Barabanki and another in Kerala, and he wanted to give them expensive gifts too. He started talking to all three girls through Instagram.

On October 30, Shahid saw many people going in and out of the Punjab National Bank at Chhaya Chauraha. He thought the bank might have a lot of money inside, so he decided to rob it. On the night of October 31, Shahid entered the bank and tried to break open the chest using a grinder machine. However, he couldn’t cut open the main door, and the chest stayed locked.

On November 4, when the bank opened again, the manager saw the damage and called the police. The police looked at more than 70 CCTV videos and found out that Shahid Khan was the person responsible. With help from CCTV experts and their technical team, the police arrested Shahid.

When reporters asked Shahid about the robbery attempt, he jokingly replied, “Kal ke episode mein batayenge” (I will reveal it in the next episode).