Two arrested from Kharar in Nalagarh ATM loot case

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, August 10

The Baddi police today arrested two of the five miscreants involved in Friday’s ATM loot case from Kharar in Punjab. About Rs 18 lakh cash was looted from the ATM of the State Bank of India (SBI) at Bagvania village on the Baddi-Nalagarh highway. The case was cracked within 12 hours as the police zeroed in on the miscreants by Friday night.

The accused were identified as Dalwinder Singh and Mastan Ali, both residents of Manguwal village in Nawanshahr. DSP, Baddi, Khajana Ram said that the police probe revealed that the miscreants had deserted the Maruti car used in the crime near Dherrowal and then boarded a truck, which they left at Nawanshahr.

Case cracked within 12 hours

• Miscreants had deserted the Maruti car used in the crime near Dherrowal and then boarded a truck which they left at Nawanshahr in Punjab
• An Innova car, which was used to recee the area, was intercepted near Kharar by the Baddi police when it was returning from Panipat after dropping other gang members
• Cash was looted from two ATMs of the SBI installed in one cabin and the crime was executed within 14 minutes
• The case was cracked within 12 hours as the police zeroed in on the miscreants on Friday night

The truck was found following the Maruti car before and after the crime was committed. The truck had entered Nalagarh through the interstate barrier but its exit was not found through any barrier. It appears it used an escape route to reach Nawanshahr.

After committing the crime, the miscreants boarded an Innova car, which was also found in the Baddi area on August 8. The same vehicle was used to recce the area. The Baddi police intercepted the car near Kharar when it was returning from Panipat after dropping the other gang members. Mastan Ali was the truck driver while Dalwinder was the driver of the Innova car that were used in the crime.

Cash to the tune of Rs one lakh was also recovered from the two arrested youths.

Notably, cash was looted from two ATMs installed in one cabin and the entire loot was executed within 14 minutes.

As per the CCTV camera footage probed by the police, five masked youths came in a Maruti Ecko car around 3:10 am equipped with gas cutters and they broke open the ATMs and looted the cash in the wee hours of Friday.

Though the burglar alarm was sounded in the SBI’s Mumbai office and its information was immediately conveyed to the Baddi police, the miscreants fled before the police arrived around 3:30 am, said the DSP. A police patrol had crossed the area at 2.39 am.

In another development, the police recovered an ATM tray with Rs 4,500 thrown in the field near Bela village in Nalagarh.