In Palwal, nine ATMs targeted in 13 months

Bijendra Ahlawat

Tribune News Service

Palwal, February 8

The police have been able to solve four out of total nine ATM theft cases that surfaced in the district since January 1, 2019.

In the latest such incident, thieves decamped with Rs 4.61 lakh from an ATM of a private business company from Badoli village of the district on February 3. Though the police have launched a hunt to nab the culprits, it is ninth such incident in the district in the past 13 months.

While the authorities are yet to reveal the figures of the cash looted or stolen from ATMs in this period, sources in the banking sector put the figure of the amount to over Rs 1.10 crore.

An amount of Rs 54.38 lakh was looted in four cases of ATM loot that took place between June and August last year. These incidents include a theft of Rs 11 lakh from the Oriental Bank of Commerce at Mitrol village, Rs 10.89 lakh from SBI ATM at Hodal, Rs 10.89 lakh from OBC ATM at Gadpuri village and Rs 21.69 from the ATM of PNB in Palwal city on August 6.

Earlier, Rs 32 lakh was looted from the ATM of a private sector bank at Hassanpur town of the district on February 27, 2019.

“We have asked bank officials to take measures as per RBI guidelines and deploy guards besides installation of CCTVs at all ATMs in the area,” said SP Narender Bijarnia. He said banks had also been told not to allow ATM function at night without a guard.