RANIPET: A four-member gang, which was allegedly robbing ATM kiosks in the city, was remanded in judicial custody on Saturday evening after their arrest a day before. Investigation revealed this gang allegedly used gas cutters among a few other tools to crack open ATM kiosks. They reportedly used to come down south in a truck to deliver construction-related items like plywood and tiles and take pulses and cereals back to their native district Mewat in Haryana.
The suspects were identified as Shajith (30), the truck owner, Arshad (32), Lukman (21), and a juvenile. The truck, gas cutters, LPG cylinders, regulators, allied tools, and Rs 45,000 stolen cash were recovered from the gang, said police.
“They mostly targeted unmanned, and isolated ATM outlets to avoid getting caught. Before setting their act into motion, they ensured the ATM outlets had no CCTV camera. They also withdrew money to check the kiosks had money,” Pugazhenthi Ganesh, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Arakkonam sub-division, told TNIE. On September 17, they decamped with Rs 4 lakh from an Axis bank ATM kiosk at Perungalathur in the Arakkonam Taluk police station limits.
Police gathered evidence like fingerprint samples, ATM’s transaction list, footage of the transaction camera, and CCTV cameras installed in the locality. After collecting the transaction details of that day, including the sample withdrawal made by the gang, the police officials did a background check of the bank accounts involved in every transaction. Also, they verified Call Data Records.