Police have identified the accused as Sandipkumar Ramsenhi Prajapati (19), Arvind Rajaram Kumar (24), Ashok Rajaram Kumar (25) and Mukesh Rajesh Yadav (25).The Crime Branch of Pune City Police has arrested a gang of four for allegedly stealing money from ATMs by tampering with their dispensers.
Police have identified the accused as Sandipkumar Ramsenhi Prajapati (19), Arvind Rajaram Kumar (24), Ashok Rajaram Kumar (25) and Mukesh Rajesh Yadav (25).
Deputy Commissioner of Police (crime), Bachchan Singh, said the probe so far has revealed that the accused withdrew nearly Rs 17 lakh from various ATMs in the city.
Acting on a tip-off to police constables Nitin Raval and Kailas Salunke, a crime branch team led by Senior Police Inspector Rajendra Mokashi and sub-inspector Gunga Jagtap laid a trap and nabbed Sandipkumar, Arvind and Ashok on October 30 in connection with thefts from ATMs in the jurisdiction of Sinhagad Road police station.
Further investigation led police to Uttar Pradesh and they arrested the key accused Mukesh Yadav on November 9. Police have recovered as many as 60 ATM cards of different banks, five cell phones, a scooter and some cash, in total worth Rs 1.08 lakh, from the key accused.
Police said that after inserting the card in the ATM and processing further, the accused tampered with the dispensers of the ATMs in such a way that money was withdrawn from the machine, but the transaction was not recorded in the ATM system.
Police said even after money was withdrawn, the message of “invalid transaction” was recorded in the electronic system of the bank. The accused then collected the withdrawn money and informed the bank that they did not get the cash due to invalid transactions. The bank then transferred this money to the bank accounts of the accused.
Police have so far solved three cases, including two lodged at Sinhagad Road police station and one at Uttam Nagar police station, in which the accused allegedly cheated the bank in this manner by tampering with ATMs.