70-year-old still awaits justice in ATM fraud case

For the past one year, a 70-year-old Gurgaon resident has been running from pillar to post to reclaim money lost in an ATM fraud.

For the past one year, a 70-year-old Gurgaon resident has been running from pillar to post to reclaim money lost in an ATM fraud.

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Retired school teacher Puran Chand, a resident of Shakti Nagar, had lost Rs 20,000 to dubious transactions at an SBI ATM on August 7, 2010.

"When I entered at the ATM, there were three men inside. As I swiped my debit card, they started to disturb me and suddenly the machine went out of order. I left after that. However, I came to know the next day that money had been withdrawn from my account. I immediately contacted the SBI branch and they told me that the money was withdrawn from the Basai Road SBI ATM machine. I had to pay Rs 1,500 to get the CCTV footage. It seems that they had tampered with the machine," Chand said.

The bank didn't take responsibility for the incident as the ATM was running without any security guard.

Moreover, one of the unknown accused, captured on CCTV, was wearing a helmet despite strict guidelines against covering one's face during transactions. The footage shows three unknown persons inside the ATM centre.

"The bank had not deployed any guard to prevent such a violation," Chand said.

On the other hand, the RBI Office of The Banking Ombudsman has found no irregularities on the bank's part and closed the case.

The victim has filed a case and the police are still investigating the matter.