₹74.95 lakh siphoned-off from SBI bank ATMs in Rajasthan, authorities clueless

The complaint was lodged by the bank authorities on February 3, almost a month after the fraud first came into light on January 5.

Unknown accused have siphoned off ₹74.95 lakh from 28 ATMs of the State Bank of India located in Rajasthan's Barmer district between November 22 and January 5, said police.

The fraud was committed taking advantage of the glitch created by power failure in ATM functioning, suggests the complaint. (Indranil Bhoumik/Mint File Photo)

A complaint was lodged by the bank authorities on February 3, almost a month after the fraud first came into light on January 5, said Prem Prakash, circle inspector at city police station in Barmer.

Sujeet Jha, the manager of SBI branch in Barmer city, on Wednesday, filed a complaint of fraud with the state police alleging unknown accused had withdrawn a total of ₹74.95 lakh in around 800 transactions, carried out between November 22 last year and January 5, 2021, at the 28 ATMs of SBI bank, located in Barmer city,.

The complaint further stated that the accused used ATM cards of different banks to withdraw money from SBI ATMs. Shedding more light on their modus operandi, the complaint alleges the accused used to affect power failure at the ATMs right at the time of the disbursal of cash, resulting in the ATM machine incorrectly recording it as a failed transaction.

The accused carried out around 800 such transactions to siphon off nearly ₹75 lakh in a month and a half between November 22, 2020 and January 5, 2021.

A case under section 420 (cheating), 406 (breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust by banker) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC and 67 (c) (D) of the IT Act has been lodged. When asked why the bank authorities took around a month’s time to report the fraud, the police official said it was being looked into. The complainant Sujeet Jha refused to comment on the issue.