A gang of masked men ‘plucked away’ an automated teller machine of State Bank of India in Adilabad town in the small hours of Friday.
A rope was tied to the strongly planted cash machine, and its other end was hooked to a car waiting outside the ATM. The miscreants pulled out the machine easily as the car started moving. The act was caught on the surveillance cameras inside the centre and other CCTV cameras in the area. No bank security personnel was guarding the place.
The ATM was in a high-security area that has the residences and offices of the District Collector, and Superintendent of Police. And the II Town and traffic police stations are just a few metres away.
The police are mooting whether their existing patrolling system should require any overhaul.
According to a senior police officer, around 3.30 a.m., a group of men reached the Collectorate Chowk SBI ATM in a four-wheeler, recced the area for a few minutes, and made away with the machine. After placing the machine in the car, they broke open it, took away ₹7.46 lakh and dumped the ATM near Battisavargaon village on the outskirts of the town.
Stating that they had enough clues, the officer said that 10 teams, each consisting of at least five personnel, were formed to nab the miscreants. Teams were also sent to neighbouring Maharashtra. “They will be caught in a day or two,” an officer associated with the investigation of the case said, refusing to divulge more information.
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