Old timers would fondly recall the PC game ‘Digger’ – which was a
smashing hit of mid 1980s – it was of Canadian origin released by Windmill
Software in 1983 for the IBM PC. The
player (with keyboard manipulation) placed in an underground maze can dig
horizontal and vertical tunnels through it. At least one tunnel would exist at the start of play. At various
points on the board would be emeralds
(usually in clusters) and bags of gold. Monsters (initially in the 'nobbin'
form) appeared at the top right-hand corner. If earth is excavated from under a
gold bag, then the bag will wobble for a few seconds and then drop; digger also had a weapon, which will fire in a
straight line, but takes several seconds to recharge (taking longer as the
levels go higher). When a monster is killed, another would appear at the top
right-hand corner of the screen, up to a maximum number which depends on the
level. 25 points for each emerald +
bonus points - the Rob Sleath developed
game was indeed a thriller.
In 1976 - 'Crazy
thieves in Palavakkam' - penned by Crazy Mohan and performed by SV Sekar, under
the banner of 'Natakapriya' was a smashing hit. It was about a middle class family trying to
own a house in far-off suburb of Palavakkam – ‘Chennaikku miga arugil’ ….. ‘a
man walking on the road’, the next door neighbor at a distance where one’s
yelling might be heard – were all the description of this Palavakkam which at
that time was ridiculed to be miles away from the mainland of Madras. A group of thieves would kidnap a richboy and
keep him at this Palavakkam house as this was off-bound for all – and in
another Crazy thieves act, the thieves would dug up a tunnel from the house to
the bank branch in the locality.
News reports state that the
terrorists who had escaped from the Jatana area of Bijnor on September 12, when
a bomb accidentally went off, were also involved in a bank robbery in Telangana
~ and they seem to be linked with the Burdwan blast as well. Reports state that these terrorists had
decamped with Rs 46 lakh from the State Bank of India (SBI) in Telangana’s
Karimnagar on February 1, 2014 and used that money to fund their terror
activities. Shaikh Mehboob, Amjad Ramzan alias Dawood, Mohammad Aslam Ayub
alias Bilal and Zakir Hussain alias Siddiqui, owing allegiance to a faction of
the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), had committed the bank robbery a
few months after running away from Khandawa jail in Madhya Pradesh in Oct,
2013. Sources in the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) claimed that they
had committed bank robbery in Karimnagar to fund terrorist activities.
Elsewhere, burglars
tunnelled more than 100 feet to carry out one of the biggest heists in the
recent times at a Government bank in Haryana’s Sonepat district. The robbery
came to light on Monday morning when the staff of the Punjab National Bank’s
Gohana branch opened the strong room, only to find cash and valuables worth
several crores missing. Located on the opposite side of the bank, an abandoned
building was used by the burglars as a cover to start their operation. The bank and the abandoned building are
separated by a lane. The unoccupied building has been locked for the last
three-four years. The tunnel was dug under the 15 feet wide lane to reach the
strong room of the bank, the police said. The robbers entered the strong room through a
tunnel measuring 2.5 ft wide and roughly 120 ft long. They broke open 83 lockers
with iron rods before decamping with the cash and valuables,” DSP informed reporters.
The police found heaps of
soil in two rooms of the abandoned building. The burglars had covered the
window panes with cardboards. Investigators are scanning the CCTV footage to
gather clues about the gang involved in the burglary. Iron cutters were apparently used to break
open the lockers, the police said, adding that empty tetra juice packs and
bottles of mineral water were found inside the abandoned building. The burglars
broke around 90 lockers, of which only 83 were in operation. There are a total
of 360 lock- ers in the strong room. Fortunately, the gang were unable to break
open a chest containing cash worth Rs 40 lakh.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
30th Oct 2014.
