Cash worth Rs 35L stolen from SBI ATMs in Pune

The thieves robbed Rs 20,18,400 from one machine and Rs 15, 07,700 from the second machine

Thieves broke open and robbed two automated teller machines (ATMs) of State Bank of India (SBI) in the early hours on Saturday. A gas-cutter machine was used to break open the cash holding unit of both the machines, according to assistant police inspector Devendra Chavan of Bhosari police station, who is investigating the case.

ATM Centre at Bhosari, Pune where the robbery took place. (HT PHOTO)

The thieves robbed Rs 20,18,400 from one machine and Rs 15, 07,700 from the second machine.

“The thieves removed the camera which was placed on the ceiling of one of the ATMs. The cameras in the other ATM machine were dysfunctional and they moved in such a way that the second machine’s camera could not capture their movement. The ATM camera also has no night vision unlike the ceiling camera which was damaged,” said Chavan.

“The new rules by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) prevents us from answering any alerts in the night hours. Logicash, which does cash transfers for my employer company (Electronic Payment and Services (EPS)), received ATM dysfunction alert between 3:15 am and 4:30 am. However, by the time a team went to check it, it was post-dawn. I got a call about this at 10:15 am,” said Sachin Kalge, manager of Electronic Payment and Services in Pimpri-Chinchwad.

A case under Sections 454 (lurking house-trespass or house-breaking in order to commit offence punishable with imprisonment), 457 (lurking house-trespass or house-breaking by night in order to commit offence punishable with imprisonment), 380 (theft in dwelling house, etc) and 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) of Indian Penal Code was registered at Bhosari police station against unidentified men.