NAVI MUMBAI: In a major heist, some thieves broke open an ATM machine of SBI bank in Pen city of Raigad district, by using gas cutter and decamped with more than Rs 56 lakhs on Monday early morning.
Devendra Pol, Senior Police Inspector of Pen Police Station said, “The thieves targeted the SBI bank’s ATM kiosk located at the Sun City building in Pen city along the main road. The bank officials have claimed that on January 15, they had refilled the ATM machine and the total cash stolen is more than Rs 56 lakhs. The thieve escaped with the cash and left behind agas cylinder and tools that were used for cutting open the ATM panel at the bottom.”
Atul Zende, Raigad Additional Superintendent of Police said, “The theft at ATM came to light at around 5.30 am, after a JSW logistics firm worker reached the spot, which was his pickup point as per his daily routine to board the company’s bus. The worker saw the glass door of the ATM kiosk open and the ATM machine damaged. Hence, he immediately informed the Pen police.”
Zende further informed that the thieves sprayed black paint on the CCTV camera inside the ATM kiosk, before cutting open the ATM machine. Hence their images were not captured. However, we have got the footage of a CCTV camera in the locality and four suspect thieves are seen escaping in a four-wheeler, which is a vital lead for us to nab the thieves.”
Tracker dog ‘Oscar’, a Doberman, who recently helped the Mahad taluka police, in identifying the accused in the rape and murder of a woman Sarpanch of a village in Raigad, was taken to the SBI bank’s ATM, to track the robbers. But Oscar was unable to smell the scent of the robbers as they might have used hand gloves while handling the tools for gas cutting the ATM machine, the police said.
