Five persons were today shot dead in an encounter for their alleged involvement in a bank robbery case in Chennai, police said. "Five persons were shot dead around 1 am in connection with the bank robbery case," said Commissioner of Police J K Tripathy .

Acting on a tip-off, a police team surrounded a house in Vandikaran Street in Velachery around 1 am and asked the suspects to come out, another police officer said. The accused opened fire at the police injuring two inspectors.

Two daring daylight bank robberies were reported in Chennai this year.

On February 20, four armed men looted Rs 14 lakh from a branch of public sector Indian Overseas Bank at Keelkattalai on city outskirts. In a similar incident on January 23, four armed men stormed the Bank of Baroda branch near Perungudi and escaped with Rs 19 lakh.