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Another night robbery bid at unmanned ATM in Manimajra
This is the fourth such attempt to loot an unguarded ATM since May 31.
Three masked men made an unsuccessful attempt to loot an unguarded ATM in Manimajra on Monday night.
The police said they were informed about the robbery bid on Tuesday morning and have registered a case in this regard.
As per the CCTV footage, three masked youths walked into an AXIS Bank ATM booth in Subash Nagar area of Manimajra at 11.59pm on Monday and initially tried to withdraw some amount. Then one of them walked out and stood guard while the other two accused tried to break open the kiosk. Failing to do so, the two came out of the booth and sent the third accused inside, who then damaged the ATM screen and CCTV installed there. The trio fled around 12.18am.
On the complaint of Kikar Singh, who is entrusted with the maintenance of ATMs, police registered a case under sections 380, 511 and 427 of the IPC at the IT Park police station.
GUARDS REPLACED BY ALARM SYSTEMS
This is the fourth such attempt to loot an unguarded ATM since May 31. Despite Chandigarh administration and police repeatedly asking the banks to deploy security guards outside ATMs, no such step has been taken. Instead of guards, the banks have installed centralised security alarms.
“The investigations into previous ATM thefts or attempts have shown that guards are mostly posted at the ATMs on bank branch premises, but not at the offsite ATMs,” said a senior Chandigarh police officer, adding that the security arrangements are outsourced to private agencies and thus the banks have little say on the shift timings of the guards.
“We have taken up the matter with the banks and asked them to ensure that ATMs have guards,” said UT police spokesperson DSP Charanjit Singh.
PREVIOUS CASES YET TO BE CRACKED
On June 18, masked burglars managed to steal ₹7.64 lakh from an ATM of Union Bank of India in Kishangarh. While on the intervening night of June 24-25, an attempt was made to break open an SBI ATM at Sector 44 market. The miscreants had sprayed paint on a CCTV camera installed inside the booth and also cut the alarm wire. As per the police, both ATMs were unmanned. The police are yet to make any breakthrough in these cases.
ATM THEFT SPREE
July 20: Two men break into a PNB ATM at Gharuan village in Kharar
June 18: Masked man flee with ₹7.6 lakh from a Union Bank of India ATM at Kishangarh in Chandigarh
June 10: Miscreants flee with ATM containing ₹16 lakh uprooted from a PNB kiosk at Dappar near Lalru
May 31: Four people make unsuccessful bid to loot an ATM at Kishangarh in Chandigarh
