A notorious inter-State gang was arrested by the Kadapa police on Sunday for stealing ₹17.76 lakh from an ATM in the district a few days ago.
A duo was sighted entering the SBI ATM kiosk near KSRM Engineering College in C.K.Dinne mandal and spraying a black liquid over the CCTV camera to hide their identity before breaking open the ATM machine with the help of gas cutters and other high-end hardware. They escaped with ₹17,76,400 in cash. They again robbed another ATM in similar fashion at Ramanjaneyapuram where they made away with ₹24,43,400.
“Since there was no case history for us on this modus operandi, it appeared to be a challenge,” Superintendent of Police K.K.N. Anburajan told reporters on Sunday. Records pertaining to similar offences in Anantapur, Chittoor, Kurnool and Prakasam districts and from Hyderabad as well were brought and special teams dispatched to study the investigation process, from where the police secured details and photographs of the accused. “It was found that the accused hailing from Haryana adopted the tactics of smuggling small cars inside large containers and using them for conducting the crime locally to conceal their identity,” he observed.
The team led by Deputy Superintendent of Police (Kadapa) B. Venkata Siva Reddy browsed through the FASTag details of containers passing through the Palempalle toll plaza on December 7 and zeroed in on one such vehicle moving towards Hyderabad. Four teams chased the container truck on different routes, which stopped at a secret location near Medchal on the outskirts of Hyderabad and then unexpectedly, returned towards Kadapa. It was sighted at 5 a.m. on December 12 at a roadside dhaba on the Kadapa-Rajampet road, when the police pounced upon the accused Musthakheem Khureshi (24), a native of Bazidpoore Punaha, and Mathin (31), hailing from Mewat, both in Haryana. Police arrested them and recovered cash, two countrymade guns, cannabis and liquor. A gas cylinder and gas cutters used for the crimes were also seized from their possession.
Five more members of the gang operating out of Haryana are at large, Mr. Anburajan said., and announced a reward for the police team who arrested the accused.
