SHILLONG:
A 40-year-old lady who had been missing for two days was discovered hungry and dehydrated in a Meghalaya bank on Monday. According to authorities, she was attempting to commit a bank robbery but made a few mistakes. The mistake that cost her the most was she forgot that the fourth Saturday of each month is a bank holiday.
The woman was identified to be Isabella Marboh, who after being found in such dilapidated condition was rushed to the hospital, and later arrested by the police on Tuesday in Shillong.
Marboh felt she had the ideal strategy when she entered the bank situated near her residence on Friday evening. Marboh had allegedly noted that no one went into the bank's server room during her trips.
Her ideal move, which she thought would turn out to be a master plan to perfectly execute her bank heist, was that she would hide herself inside the bank till the bank closes, and then break into the money storage room and steal all the cash she could carry when the bank reopened the next day. Unfortunately for her, and very fortunately for the rest, her masterplan backfired miserably almost driving her on the bring of insanity.
According to authorities, she left home on Friday, telling her family she was going to the store to purchase veggies. Instead, she went to the bank, purportedly to deposit some money, and sleekly managed to get herself inside the sever room.
She went directly to the strong room after the bank closed. But it turned out that she lacked the necessary tools. She attempted to pry it open with a pair of scissors, but she didn't fare very well.
According to a police officer who asked to remain anonymous, they did discover carpenter's tools in her handbag but did not comment. There's no word on how she planned to break into the safe room.
Isabella Marboh assumed the CCTV camera would have filmed her at this time, according to the officer. So she shattered them, oblivious to the fact that the film was still safe.
Marboh intended to depart the bank when it opened the next morning. However, June 26 was a bank holiday, as are all second and fourth Saturdays.
She'd taken chocolate bars and ORS fluid to tide her over for the anticipated overnight stay at the bank. She had to make her supply last all weekend.
The bank manager found the woman in a "dehydrated and weak" state when she opened the doors on Monday morning, and the CCTV cameras were damaged. The manager contacted the police and her husband, who had been anxiously searching for his wife for two days and had made several social media requests to find her.
According to the news website East Mojo, announcements to ask assistance in locating the missing woman were also broadcast through Bishnupur's public address system. She was deafeningly silent.
Shillong city superintendent of police Vivek Syiem informed HT over the phone that the lady was taken to the Shillong Youth Centre quarantine centre and is awaiting the results of her Covid test.
"She has been booked under various offences which include criminal trespass, burglary, breaking and entry amongst others and we are awaiting the test report before producing her in court," said the SP.
The SP stated that, of all the possibilities in the situation of a missing woman, an attempted bank robbery was not one of them.
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