BENGALURU: Armed with gas and metal cutters, and face masks, two robbers broke into an ATM machine and scooped up Rs 15 lakh. But Lady Luck was not on their side as the police got wind of them, trapped them inside the kiosk and later arrested them. The incident happened at Deepanjalinagar on Mysore Road on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday. In a bid to escape, one of them even attacked the policemen.
The arrested were identified as Harsha Arora (36) and Samarjoth Singh (32), both from Punjab.According to a senior officer from Byatarayanapura police station, around 1.30 am, the police control room received repeated alerts over miscreants attempting to break into ATMs at JJ Nagar and RR Nagar.
The accused had barged into ATM kiosks in three spots, and an alert was sent to the State Bank of India head-office in Mumbai.
A Chandra Layout police inspector, who was on night patrol, also alerted his Byatarayanapura counterparts about the robbery bids. Immediately, two head constables Prakash N and J Basavaraj, who were patrolling on Mysuru Road, rushed to Deepanjalinagar, the officer said.
Near the ATM kiosk, which had its shutter partially down, the constables sensed a burning odour emanating from it. They realised something fishy and alerted their higher officer, while standing guard so that the miscreants do not flee.
When the officer reached the spot, they opened the shutter, but one of the miscreants attacked the policemen with an iron rod. One of them also suffered a head injury when he banged his head on the shutter while trying to run away.
According to the police, the accused came in a Skoda car carrying a gas cutter weighing 100 kg, iron rods, masks and other tools. They had also tried to disable the CCTV cameras by sticking bubble gum on them before spraying black ink. They had kept the Rs 15 lakh in a bag.
An officer said, “The accused had hired a flat in an apartment complex in BTM Layout and had come to the city four months ago. It is suspected that one of their associates might have waited outside the ATM and he might have fled after noticing the policemen. There was no security guard at the premises. The accused has monitored the locality and planned the burglary well in advance.”
During the investigation, the duo confessed that they committed robberies in other locations, including Parappana Agrahara, Mico Layout and Annapurneshwaringar. In Parappana Agrahara, they looted Rs 26 lakh and attempted robberies at two places. They had stolen a car from a woman in Haryana.