Chhatarpur: Rs 17 lakh looted from ATM

Chhatarpur (Madhya Pradesh): Unidentified thieves had used a gas-cutter to cut open the iron chest inside the unguarded ATM kiosk which had Rs 17 lakh cash in it. No alert was received by the nationalised bank and the heist came to the fore on Saturday morning.

The thieves had sprayed on CCTV cameras and screen of the cash dispensing machine to avoid recording and cut the ATM machine with a gas cutter and committed the theft. The incident took place at SBI’s kiosk located near Panna Naka in Chhatarpur.

Bank staff who spotted the ATM theft this morning immediately informed the police. On learning about the incident, DIG (Chhatarpur range) along with staff and forensic experts, sniffer dogs reached the spot and examined the kiosk.

Police officials have pegged the amount of cash robbed from the ATM to around Rs 17 lakh.

There have been incidents of attempted theft in ATMs of the city many times in the past, but this is the biggest incident of theft from ATMs. Kiosks of various banks, including SBI, are installed in the city, No adequate arrangements have been made for security of kiosks of various banks, including SBI in the city. In many ATMs there is no guard deployed.