3 held in ATM robbery case

Tribune News Service

Mohali, July 2

The Lalru police have arrested three miscreants who had targeted an automated teller machine (ATM) of the PNB branch at Dappar and decamped with the cash dispenser containing Rs16 lakh on the intervening night of June 9 and 10.

The arrested persons have been identified as Farman, a resident of Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Gulsher, alias Kala, and Mustafa, both residents of Yamunanagar in Haryana. The vehicle used in the crime and the uprooted ATM had also been recovered from their possession. The trio was arrested from Uttar Pradesh.

The suspects were produced before a court, which remanded them in four-day police custody.

The police said five suspects involved in the crime were still absconding. Raids were being conducting by police teams to nab them.

On the intervening night of June 9 and 10, the suspects broke open the metal door of the ATM with an iron rod. They uprooted the ATM by tying one end of the rope with the ATM and the other with the pickup van parked outside. They fled from the spot after committing the crime. The incident was captured in the CCTV camera. No security guard was present at the ATM booth at the time of the incident.

SP (Rural) Mohali Ravjot Kaur Grewal said two teams were formed to crack the case. During interrogation, it was established that the suspects had carried out around six ATM robberies in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh during the lockdown. Most of their accomplices had already been arrested by the UP and the Haryana police.

The Lalru police had registered a case under Sections 457, 380, 427 and 34 of the IPC.

During interrogation, the arrested persons revealed that their accomplices were also involved in the crime and were still absconding. They had been identified as Inam, alias Pradhan, Sadiq, Rukam Din, Samsuddin and Jabir, all residents of Saharanpur district. Raids were being conducted to nab the absconding persons, said the police.