Unidentified persons struck big at an ATM in Kamrej near Surat on Thursday morning and decamped with Rs10.59 lakh cash.
Unidentified persons struck big at an ATM in Kamrej near Surat on Thursday morning and decamped with Rs10.59 lakh cash.
Apparently neither security guard nor any local person spotted anything while the theft was committed. Cops have started a hunt for the culprits.
The thieves stormed into the State Bank of India ATM centre at Drashti Complex at Kamrej at 6 am on Thursday. They entered from the rear and smashed open the machine. They broke the racks where the cash was kept and took away 1,938 notes of Rs500 denomination and 902 Rs100 notes.
The theft got detected after the bank's assistant branch manager Sureshchandra Saxena received a message at 6:22 am on his
cellphone. But he read the message only at 9 am after he got up and immediately informed the police. Cops rushed to the spot and immediately started their investigations. They collected some proof, but are still clueless about the culprits.
"I received a message that the bank's ATM was not functioning. I immediately rushed to the spot with one of my colleagues and found the ATM broken. The thieves had cut the ATM's iron body from the back and took out the cash," Saxena said.
The ATM is located on the first floor of the complex which houses more than 100 shops and is active practically day and night. Despite this, nobody noticed anything suspicious.
Sources said that bank had installed CCTV on Wednesday itself. One private security guard was always on duty, but when the theft took place, no security guard was present at the complex.
Preliminary investigations reveal that thieves knew everything about ATM machines. This is because they cut only that part of the ATM where the cash is kept. The machine's body is made of 12 mm iron sheet and thieves brought heavy cutters to
execute their plan.
Kamrej police said: "We have asked the bank to provide CCTV footages. We have also initiated a hunt for the thieves. Special police teams have been formed for this purpose," MA Vala, inspector of Kamrej police station, said.
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