With increasing number of cases of ATM loot happening in several districts, police are sounding worried. They say such incidents are happening as the bank officials are ignoring the slew of instructions given by police for strengthening security.
In the latest case, around five unidentified persons had uprooted an ATM machine of ICICI bank in SIDCUl, Rudrapur in Udham Singh Nagar and decamped with the machine that contained cash of around Rs7.5 lakh. It happened on the night June 24 when the security guard was off the scene for ‘personal reasons’. Probe found that the screws used to ground the machine were loose. This is why the robbers had the least difficulty to uproot it and flee with it.
In two separate incidents in Patelnagar, Dehradun, police found that the bank officials had left the keys in the cash chests after they had deposited cash in them.
lights remaining fused within the ATM cell are also helping the criminals to go for ATM loot. This correspondent has recently visited an ATM near Sahastradhara crossing. With the light off inside, the ATM was steeped in darkness. When asked, the security guard said he had asked the bank officials to replace it. “They said it would be done tomorrow,” he said. However, things continued for two consecutive days.
State additional director general of police (administration) Ram Singh Meena said that the district police officers have been directed to meet the bank officials from time to time to ensure that CCTV cameras are installed inside and outside the ATMs. He further stressed on the antecedents of the guards deputed at banks and ATMs be checked. Police instructions regarding security of banks and ATMs include cashes be transported in vans under the escort of armed guards and the bank officials informing the local police post or police station concerned when they refill ATMs with cashes.