PATNA: Amid heightened security for President
Ram Nath
Kovind’s visit, unidentified criminals uprooted an HDFC bank
ATM
from its
kiosk
and fled after loading it in an SUV from village Ishopur under
Phulwarisharif
police station area in western Patna on Thursday wee hours.
The automated teller machine had Rs 20 lakh inside that time for which criminals looted it.
Police sources said money was loaded inside ATM at around 3pm on Wednesday and loot took place in less than 12 hours.
The incident took place between 1.15am to 1.30am. Police said four criminals with covered face could be seen in
CCTV
camera footages of neighbourhood, tying the machine with heavy ropes and then uprooting and pulling it out with help of a SUV. They said it as a latest ATM whose size was small and was fixed with floor using narrow screws.
Shockingly, at least two special auxiliary police (SAP) jawans armed with rifles were on night duty hardly few meters away from the same kiosk who did nothing to stop the criminals.
“Had they even fired a round or two in air, criminals would have fled leaving everything. Even owner of the house, in which kiosk is located, had woken up and raised an alarm,” a senior police official said.
Phulwarisharif police station SHO Rafique-Ur-Rahman said there were two ATM kiosks at a distance of 200metres at the spot.
“The jawans are deployed there every night as the area is theft and crime prone. Their duty was also to guard both kiosks. The one which was looted, functioned round the clock,” he said.
Rahman said that the HDFC bank ATM was managed by a private firm named FSS and its regional representative
Raju Kumar Singh
has lodged an FIR in connection with the loot.
“Rs 20 lakh along with the machine was looted. Police have CCTV camera footage of the kiosk till 1.15am,” he said.
SHO said criminals sprayed black paint on CCTV cameras of the machine and those fixed inside and outside the kiosk.
“Only one suspect with covered face was visible in those footages. Overall, four to five criminals are visible at spot in CCTV camera footages of other buildings,” he said.
Rahman said criminals fled towards Naubatpur after looting ATM. He said police are trying to ascertain their identity to arrest them.
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