Repeated incidents of looting of ATMs have posed serious concern for the banks as well as the security agencies. The latest in the series of such incidents took place at Bahanaga under Soro PS and the ATM was found on the road near NH 16.
The circumstantial evidences showed that the ATM was dislodged from its base by the miscreants and was being ferried by tying with a rope. The rope snapped and they fled.
They were unable to remove the cash (Rs 21 lakh) stacked in the machine. District SP Mr B Jugal Kishor and other senior police officials rushed to the site along with the scientific team. Although the sniffer dog was pressed in service yet it failed to provide much lead .
The police besides apprehending local people hand also suspected that at least 4-5 persons were involved in the crime. Before committing the burglary they had snapped the CCTv connections.
The Inspector-in- charge of Soro police station, Dillip Sahu said,“The kiosk is a franchaise unit of SBI managed by a private company. The cash is intact. It appears that about 4-5 persons are involved in the crime. They attempted to carry the unit by dragging using a four-wheeler may be a tractor after dislodging it from its base.”
“Involvement of the local miscreants is not ruled out. Although the footage during the crime is not available as the connection were severed yet previous recordings are analyzed. A case under section 457 (trespassing) and 380/511 (abortive attempt to commit burglary) of IPC has been registered. The Investigation is in progress,” he said.
Earlier although several such incidences have come to light yet police failed to achieve desirable results. There have been several other instances of ATM’s being robbed since February.