Representative image of an ATM robbery.
Credit: iStock Photo
Bengaluru: Gone in three minutes! That's all the time it reportedly took a gang of thieves, operating across borders in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, to decamp with a sum of Rs 16 lakh from an ATM kiosk on Sarjapur Main Road in the early hours of Saturday.
Police said the gang reportedly attempted a series of similar thefts along the way.
Acting on a complaint lodged by the ATM's security agency, the Bellandur police have registered an FIR under Section 305 (theft in a dwelling house, or means of transportation or place of worship) and 331 (trespass or housebreaking) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita in connection with the incident.
One of the members of the gang reportedly entered the ATM kiosk, and after forcing the machine open with a gas cutter, made away with the money, executing the entire operation in less than three minutes.
Footage recovered from the CCTV camera before its lens was blackened with paint, shows a man, his upper body draped in a shawl, in an apparent bid to conceal his identity.
A senior police officer investigating the incident told DH that the suspects pried the rear of the machine open and stole the cash.
"As soon as the machine was broken, an alarm went off and the security guard at the ATM kiosk called the police helpline, with cops at a location only six minutes away. But by the time the police arrived on the scene, the gang had driven away," the officer said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Whitefield Division, has constituted two separate teams to track the suspects down.