In a daring theft, miscreants used a gas torch to cut open an ATM of Canara Bank near a busy bus stop on Nagashettyhalli Main Road in Sanjaynagar on Saturday evening and made away with Rs 19 lakh.
The theft is believed to have been committed in the evening, but came to light around 8 pm when a costumer went to the kiosk to withdraw money and found the ATM machine cut open. Police said the ATM kiosk had neither a security guard nor CCTVs.
“The kiosk neither had a security guard nor CCTV cameras, which the miscreants may have taken advantage of to plan the theft well in advance,” police said. There is a BMTC bus stop nearby where scores of commuters are around all the time, but surprisingly no one noticed the miscreants using a gas torch while committing the theft.
The Sanjaynagar police, who are investigating the case, blamed the bank authorities for their negligence. Police also suspect that the thieves had studied the scene for some weeks before committing the crime.
Police Commissioner B G Jyothiprakash Mirji had issued notices to all banks insisting that each ATM should mandatorily have a security guard and CCTV coverage, as well two guards per bank.