B'luru: Dramatic twist in ATM theft case; 5 employees of cash loading company held

In a dramatic development, Bellandur police have arrested five employees of the cash loading company in connection with the theft of Rs 16.50 lakh from the ATM of a private bank in Dodda Kannahalli, Sarjapur Road.

The arrested employees from Secure Value India Limited are Prathap (32), Field Operations Manager; Pavan Kalyan (28), ATM Officer; Dharmendra (52), ATM In-Charge; Raghavendra (36), Madivala Area Branch Head; and Mahesh (30), Assistant Manager. The police have recovered Rs 13.50 lakh from the accused.

The accused allegedly took advantage of a theft incident at the ATM and tried to pocket Rs 16.50 lakh that they were supposed to load into the ATM machine.

On July 1, the accused employees went to load Rs 16.50 lakh into the Axis Bank ATM at Dodda Kannahalli but were unable to do so due to a technical fault. The same issue persisted when they attempted to load the cash on July 2, but the employees did not inform the bank about the technical fault or the failure to load the cash.

Suspicious due to the lack of transactions, bank officials checked the ATM on July 6 and discovered the ATM had been cut open and looted using a gas cutter.

Upon registering the case and initiating an investigation, the police reviewed CCTV footage from the ATM center. The footage revealed that at 3 AM on July 6, two individuals with bedsheets wrapped around their faces entered the ATM center and sprayed black paint on the CCTV cameras. They then used a gas cutter to break open the ATM and steal the money.

Further investigation revealed that the CCTV footage from July 1 showed the accused employees visiting the ATM center but leaving without loading any cash. The police, suspecting foul play, detained and questioned the five accused employees, who eventually confessed to not loading the cash and stealing the money themselves. The police are continuing their investigation to apprehend the thieves who cut open the ATM.

Employees took advantage of theft

During the investigation, it was found that the thieves had stolen only Rs 6,800 from the ATM. Further probing revealed that the employees of Secure Value India Limited had not loaded Rs 16.50 lakh into the ATM and had used the subsequent robbery to their advantage, misleading the bank and stealing the entire amount themselves, a senior police officer said.

Another case has been registered against the representative of the ATM maintenance company for filing a false report. The search for the actual robbers who cut open the ATM continues, said B. Dayanand, City Police Commissioner.