The District Crime Branch police on Tuesday arrested two employees of a cash management services company in Puducherry on charges of allegedly stealing ₹78.21 lakh from bank ATMs in which they used to replenish cash. The arrested were identified as D. Kalingan, 28 and P. Prashanth, 28 of Nerkundram near Tindivanam.
Police said the duo were entrusted with the job of replenishing cash in four ATMs in Tindivanam. Suspicion arose when Kalingan and Prashanth did not report for work for a few days and their mobile phones were found to be switched off. The shortage of cash came to light during an internal audit conducted by company staff, following which they lodged a complaint with the DCB police.
A police official said that the two were familiar with passwords and unlocking of the machines and they hatched a plot to steal cash without arousing the suspicion of the company. The duo would re-visit the ATMs after loading the cash, key in the password into the machines and open them.
Kalingan and Prashanth had managed to take away ₹78.21 lakhs from several ATMs. Of this, a sum of ₹30 lakh was spent by them on popular online card games. The two men were remanded to custody.
