ATM heist in Maheshwaram: Thieves escape with Rs 29.69 lakh in 4 minutes

Hyderabad: In a late-night robbery, thieves targeted an SBI ATM in Raviryala village, Maheshwaram Mandal, making off with approximately Rs 29.69 lakh in cash in just four minutes! The incident, which occurred in the early hours of Sunday, has left local authorities scrambling to track down the culprits.

Thieves used sophisticated equipment

According to Adibatla police, the robbery was executed with precision. Four unidentified individuals arrived at the ATM in a swift car around 2:13 am. To avoid detection, they sprayed the CCTV cameras with a substance to disable them and cut the sensor wires, ensuring the emergency siren remained silent. Armed with iron bars and gas cutters, the thieves broke into the ATM within minutes, stealing the cash and fleeing the scene in under four minutes.

The theft was discovered when Korra Sreevani, deputy manager of the SBI Raviryala Branch, received an alert from the IVIS Switch Centre in Hyderabad about unauthorised access to the ATM. Upon arriving at the branch, she found the ATM forcibly opened and the cash missing. The stolen amount was reported to be Rs 29,69,900, which had been deposited in the ATM just two days before the incident.

Maheshwaram DCP Sunitha Reddy and ACP Raju Adibhatla arrived at the scene to oversee the investigation. Special teams have been formed to track down the culprits, and a case has been registered in the Adibatla police station under sections 331(4) and 305 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

The SBI Raviryala Branch, which opened in 2012, has never experienced such an incident before. Korra Sreevani, who has been serving as the deputy manager for the past year, expressed shock over the breach. “We are cooperating fully with the police to ensure the culprits are brought to justice,” she said.