ATM mechanic steals Rs 1 crore to bail out friend in red, both in jail

BENGALURU: A 28-year-old ATM mechanic who stole nearly Rs 1 crore in order to bail out his friend who had raised loans to the tune of Rs 20 lakh after his hotel business had failed is now cooling his heels behind bars.
Adugodi police arrested Kishore Kumar, 28, a resident of B Chandrappa Nagar, and Rakesh, 37, of Vishwapriya Nagar.
Kishore worked with a cash logistics firm and was tasked with fixing defunct ATMs. Last year, Rakesh, a cab driver, had raised a loan of Rs 20 lakh to start a hotel business, but the venture failed within a few days. Kishore, a close friend of Rakesh, decided to help him. The duo decided to steal cash from ATM kiosks.
On May 1, Kishore went to an ICICI Bank ATM kiosk on Langford Road and an RBL Bank ATM kiosk on Residency Road and cut their wires and disabled their transactions. He knew that both the ATMs were to be refilled the same day.
Kishore, who was assigned to fix the ATMs, received the One Time Passwords (OTPs) to open the cash vending machines. After he got the OTPs, Kishore took away Rs 47.8 lakh from the ICICI Bank ATM and Rs 51.3 lakh from RBL Bank ATM.
Rakesh had brought his car in which they transported the cash to three rooms which they had rented to hoard the money.
The banks informed the cash logistics firm about the missing cash. Kishore was the first suspect as he had stopped coming to work from the next day.
On going through CCTV footage near the ATM kiosks, police found that Kishore and Rakesh were involved in the heist. Police said the duo divided the cash and stored them in three different locations. While Kishore stored Rs 47,83,000 in Bommanahalli and Rakesh Rs 30,00,000 in Vishwapriya Nagar, Begur and Rs 17,70,000 in Viratnagar in Bommanahalli.
Police said they are yet to recover Rs 3.6 lakh from the accused, who are claiming they put the money in a temple hundi (cash collection box). Cops are yet to establish the veracity of the claim.
Kishore and Rakesh are unmarried and thick friends. Besides, the loss incurred in the hotel business, Rakesh had also lost money in gambling.
Police commissioner T Suneel Kumar announced Rs one lakh prize money to Adugodi police who cracked the case.