“The accused Aamir, s/o Allimuddin, is from a village known for fraudulent activities. He also has several cases pending against him,” a senior police officer told DT Next. “A sum of Rs 4.5 lakh has been seized from Aamir,” he added. Based on a tip-off, the special team rushed to Haryana and secured him from a hideout in the wee hours of Wednesday. Police said the operation is not over as some more suspects had to be secured. Since similar incidents have been reported in other districts, police suspect the gang could be larger and have reached the State to carry out the loot simultaneously. “It is learnt that more than five groups operated in Chennai to carry out the loot,” police said.

Meanwhile, city police received a few more complaints from branch managers of SBI in Periamet, Saidapet and Kilpauk that cash had been stolen from the automated-depositor-withdrawal kiosks. While Rs 16 lakh have been stolen from an ATM in Periamet, Rs 5 lakh and Rs 1.18 lakh were stolen from ATMs at Saidapet and Raja Annamalai Road respectively. “In Periamet, the fraudsters visited the ATM three days from June 16 to 18 around the same time and withdrew Rs 16 lakh using the same trick. The bank authorities visited the kiosk on June 19 and were shocked to find a huge sum missing,” said police.