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

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.