CHENNAI: A 50-year-old Avadi resident walked into the Thiruninravur police station on Monday night and gave himself up, saying he had attacked and damaged six ATMs at Thiruninravur as he was unable to cope with the losses incurred in his real estate business.
Sheshadri of Sixth Cross Street at Prakash Nagar in Avadi apologised to the shocked police personnel for his act and said he deserved to be jailed. A case was registered and he was produced before a court which sent him to prison.
Police said Sheshadri had been in the real estate business for a while but began incurring losses over the past few years and the pandemic compounded his woes. His family members began blaming him for not concentrating on alternative earnings to support them, an officer said. Frustrated, he came home drunk every day and fought with his wife.
On Monday night, after a bitter quarrel, he left home and reached Prakash Nagar Main Road where he tried to withdraw money with his cards from three ATMs of private banks, but failed as there was no money in his account. He then decided to break open the ATMs, failed and completely damaged the display screens.
He then attacked three other ATMs on CTH Road including one belonging to Canara Bank. He had brought a knife from home in an attempt to break the ATMs, police said. A passerby who saw him damaging the machines alerted the police control room, saying the man appeared to be mentally depressed.
Later, he went to the Thiruninravur police station and surrendered. After hearing out his tale, a team of police personnel went to the spot and inspected the six ATMs that Sheshadri said he had damaged.
After confirming what he said was correct, police arrested him. Police said Sheshadri, was in dire need of money. There were no security guards at the ATMs that he targeted but all of them were covered by CCTV cameras.
