A thief in a hoodie sweatshirt made an ATM heist look like child’s play at Piplani on Friday night. CCTV footage shows the youngster opening the ATM cabinet, punching in the password to get into the cash vault and walking off with Rs 13.16 lakh.
The thief replaced the cash box and closed the cabinet before leaving. All this, he did quite leisurely, spending almost two hours in the ATM after pulling its shutters down. The surprising thing is that for someone who knew his way around an ATM, the thief did not bother to cover his face for CCTV cameras.
The ATM — an unguarded one — operates on the ground floor of a shopping complex in front of Piplani petrol pump. Locals were busy celebrating Navratri at a tableau of Goddess Durga installed only a few metres away. Police suspect the involvement of an insider, possibly from a cash replenishment agency.
Investigation officer SI B S Chouhan said that the theft took place around 11.35pm. The thief switched off the lights on entering the room, and entered a six-digit password to open the vault. He minutely checked the cash and did not take six notes of Rs 100, which were either damaged or coloured, said the police officer. The thief left around 1am.
The Mumbai-based firm that maintains the ATM alerted the Bhopal branch office in Bawaria Kalan around 6am on Saturday. The bank’s branch manager, Rakesh Prasad, immediately informed Piplani police, who went to check, and found everything ‘normal’ since the machine was intact. It was only around 10am that company officials checked the cash vault and reported it to police.
SI Chouhan said the heist seems to be an insider job as the thief was not only aware of the password but also knew that only one of the machines in the ATM was functional. Prasad informed police that Rs 7 lakh was refilled on Friday afternoon.
As many as 25 employees of the company were aware of the password, which had not been changed for six months, said Chouhan. While some employees knew the full password, others knew only a few digits, he added. All of them are being questioned by police.
ASP Hitesh Choudhary said though the heist was caught on CCTV in the ATM, the thief’s face is not very clear. Police are scanning CCTV footage from nearby shops and going through call details of the firm’s employees. A case of theft and break-in has been registered.
