Mumbai: Thieves stole an automated teller machine (ATM) weighing about 800kg and containing Rs760,000 (Dh62,000) from a bank in Purna Nagar, Pune, on Monday.
This is the second such incident for the United Bank of India in Pune, its 500kg ATM containing Rs105,000 in the Kasarwadi area was also stolen by thieves in October 2009.
Investigating Officer B.D. Mohandhule told Gulf News, "Though we have informed all the banks to employ security guards at the ATM premises, no one has does so. This bank, too, did not have one."
He said the robbery must have been committed on late Monday night but discovered only at 10.30am yesterday morning.
He said thieves cut the CCTV wires and alarm systems and then the power supply to the ATM before scamping off with the machine which was not fixed to the floor. Even the CCTV was connected to the machine and not separately. "That is why the robbers would not have taken more than 30 minutes to lift the heavy machine and put it in a vehicle before absconding with the booty. So far, we have not found any clues to lead us to the thieves," he added.
The bank is located in a residential-cum-commercial complex that comes under the rural area.
An international contracting company, Financial Software & Systems, had installed the ATM and is now concerned that this is happening in deserted areas of cities.
This is also the second such incident in the district in the last seven days when suspects fled with the ATM of ICICI bank at Chakan on the Pune-Nasik highway. The machine, however, contained only Rs500.
In May this year, a 500kg ATM of the United Bank of India with an unknown quantity of cash was stolen from Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. ATM machines usually weigh between 300-600kg and cost between Rs400,000-600,000.
