IANS/Bangalore
In a daring heist, a gang of six men stole an entire ATM, containing Rs1mn-1.5mn, from a branch of the state-owned State Bank of India (SBI) in Bangalore’s northeast suburbs early yesterday, police said.
“The incident came to light when our patrolling team detected the ATM missing from the bank outlet during its late night beat and no security guard around,” Deputy Commissioner of Police T R Suresh said.
Police registered a case after branch manager R Gururaj filed a complaint that its ATM was stolen.
According to preliminary investigation, the ATM, weighing about 500kg, was not properly fixed to the ground and the gang had cut off wires of the closed circuit television camera and its server before escaping in a vehicle.
“As the bank branch with the ATM outlet is located on a deserted road in Bagalur area, we suspect the gang escaped with the heavy machine in the absence of a security guard and without being noticed by anyone as there was not much vehicular traffic or people’s movement at that time,” Suresh said.
The branch was opened on April 25 and the ATM was installed a month later with just two nuts and bolts fixed to the ground.
“It is a serious security lapse of the bank and its security agency which is entrusted with the operation and maintenance of the ATM. They have not taken precautions to ensure the machine’s safety,” Police Commissioner Jyotiprakash Mirji told reporters.
In the complaint, the bank manager said Rs2mn in denominations of Rs1,000, Rs500 and Rs100 was deposited in the ATM on June 15 by the outsourced security agency.
“We have set up a special team to investigate the case and nab the gang, as the CCTV footage, recorded before its camera wires were cut off, showed six persons trying to lift and move the machine out of the outlet,” Suresh said.
This is the second such incident in the city. A week ago about Rs1.9mn was stolen from an ATM of the state-run Canara Bank in northwest suburb of the city. That too did not have a security guard and its CCTV cameras were not working.
Police, however, cracked the case within four days by arresting three men and recovered the money from them.