SBI halts ATM operations in Tamil Nadu after 48 lakh

Tamil Nadu Police suspect the individuals involved in the looting were not from the state

The State Bank of India (SBI) halted operations across its ATMs in Tamil Nadu after a group of four reportedly stole ₹48 lakh from several ATMs operated by the public-sector bank across the state.

SBI chief general manager R Radhakrishna told reporters that as a preventative measure to curtail any further loss all atm machines have been disabled (Bloomberg File Photo )

Tamil Nadu Police suspect the individuals involved in the looting were not from the state. The loss incurred due to the robbery would impact the bank and not the general public, Chennai city police commissioner Shankar Jiwal said.

The group is said to have taken advantage of a technical flaw in the bank's ATMs. A special team has been constituted to investigate the group’s modus operandi. Police have alerted other banks but so far no there haven’t been any such complaints.

"A group of four reportedly stole 48-lakh from several SBI ATMs across the state. Police suspect them to be from another state. The loss has been for the bank and not the public. A special team was formed to crackdown on this modus operandi which took advantage of a technical flaw in the bank's ATMs. Police have alerted other banks but no other bank has complained so far," Jiwal told Hindustan Times.

SBI chief general manager R Radhakrishna told reporters that as a preventative measure to curtail any further loss all atm machines have been disabled across the state. “As a measure to curtail further loss, we have disabled all machines which have problems. Currently, these machines will not dispense cash. The theft took place only through one type of cash deposit machine,”

Jiwal also told reporters that the group targeted an automatic cash withdrawal machine and used a single card to withdraw the stolen amount.