Top cop’s office staff caught on CCTV after credit card theft

How easy is it to crack the personal identification number (PIN) of your ATM card? The Azad Maidan police are working that out after nabbing a senior clerk at the Mumbai police commissionerate for allegedly stealing the credit card of a colleague and withdrawing money from ATMs by using it.

The clerk, Dilip Triyambak Kinge, allegedly withdrew Rs32,800 from two ATMs, one of which is in the commissionerate itself, before being caught in action on the CCTV camera.

According to the police, the credit card of the victim, Vidya Sanjay Sonawane, who works in the budget inspection branch of the same office, went missing on June 2. On that day she had withdrawn Rs3,000 from her account.

“Between June 2 and June 3, there were two transactions worth Rs32,800 on her card. The money was withdrawn from one ATM at the commissionerate, and another at Bhandup railway station. Sonawane immediately registered a case with the Azad Maidan police,” said the police.

Sonawane claimed that only she knew the PIN of her credit card and there was no scope for anyone else to access it.

The police got a major lead when they went through the CCTV images of the ATMs.

“We found Kinge withdrawing money. The time of the withdrawal was checked with the bank. We then arrested him on Friday. Kinge has admitted to committing the crime,” said the police official.

The official said Kinge claimed that he had found the credit card lying unattended. “We are recovering the money and investigations are on,” he said.