Masked miscreants make vain bid to loot cash from ATM kiosk at Nacharam

Hyderabad: Masked miscreants, who could not be identified, broke into an ATM kiosk of the Canara Bank at Nacharam in Hyderabad in the wee hours of Wednesday. They managed to break the machine but could gain access to the cash chest, thus, averting a major theft. Police are ascertaining the amount of cash stored in the machine at the time of the incident.

According to the police, two persons are suspected to have entered the kiosk at Nacharam X roads. They tried to break open the machine with sharp tools and then loot the cash.

Passersby, who caught wind of some suspicious activity in the kiosk, alerted the police. Sensing that police was reaching the place, the miscreants fled the place.

Based on a complaint from the bank officials, a case has been registered at Nacharam police station and special teams have been deployed to nab the suspects. Clues team also visited the place of crime and began an inquiry.

It was found that the ATM kiosk was not guarded and the miscreants took advantage of it.

There were reports of similar incidents in the city earlier too.

The police department conducted meetings with the bankers and issued guidelines to prevent thefts at ATM centres. In addition to installing high definition CCTV cameras at the kiosks, police also advised the bankers to deploy security guards at the booths.

However, many ATM kiosks still remain unguarded.

In one such incident in February 2020, two masked men walked into an ATM booth, uprooted one of the two machines and drove away in a van at Patancheru on the outskirts of the city. A day later, the ‘Indicash’ ATM machine was found abandoned in a neighbouring town.