BHOPAL: Unidentified thieves decamped with more than Rs 13 lakh from the ATM of a private bank at Sonagiri crossing here, police said. Pipalani police station inspector Brijesh Bhargava said, according to initial investigations, the thieves opened the ATM on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday and decamped with Rs 13.16 lakh kept in it. However, the ATM revealed that the cashbox was completely locked suggesting that nothing had happened, he added.
Interestingly, the investigation further revealed that the burglars did not break open the ATM, but instead unlocked the cash box by using the secret password that is only known to bank staff and those working for the agency tasked with maintaining the ATM.
The staffers of the private agency tasked with maintenance of the concerned ATM were subsequently called by the police to check the ATM. The agency staffers after checking the ATM revealed that Rs 13,15,800 was missing from the cash box which only contained Rs 600.
The six notes of hundred rupees denomination which were left by the accused in the cash box were either stained with colour or defective, owing to which they were left in the cash box, the cops said.
After the burglary was confirmed, the manager of the local ICICI branch which operates the ATM lodged a complaint with the Piplani police.
Prior to that, at 6 am on Saturday, the local office of the agency maintaining the ATM had got an alert from its Mumbai head office about possible tampering with the concerned ATM. Subsequent investigations by city police revealed that the burglars entered the ATM kiosk at around 11.35 pm on Friday.
“The accused after entering the kiosk turned off the lights inside before pulling down the shutter to avoid being spotted by anyone. He then opened the outer cover of the cashbox with the secret password. He stayed inside the ATM for over an hour and left the place at around 1 am,” said Brijesh Bhargava.
Probe has also brought to the fore that the burgled ATM was guardless and the security password of the ATM had not been changed by the private agency since last six months, owing to which it was known to at least 20-25 staffers of the agency. The fact that the password had leaked indicated the role of insiders in the heist, they said.