Dubai: A bizarre incident in India has caught the attention of tweeps worldwide - apparently rats chewed up currency notes worth Rs12 lakh (over Dh65,000, or $17,700) in an ATM in the Indian state of Assam.
The incident left many shocked.
According to several media reports, a State Bank of India (SBI) branch ATM in Assam’s Tinsukia district bore the wrath of rodents that left the currency notes completely destroyed.
According to the newspaper Indian Express: “Following a technical failure, the ATM — still containing cash — had been out of order since May 20.”
Media reports say that on June 11, when technicians arrived to fix the ATM, they found currency notes of Rs2,000 and Rs500, torn to pieces. The overall cash destroyed by the rats amounted to Rs12,38,000. Undamaged currency notes were also recovered from the ATM.
Technicians who arrived to fix a malfunctioning #ATM in #India got a shock when they opened it up.
— Noorani Tejani (@NooraniTejani) June 20, 2018
Money worth more than 1.2m rupees had been shredded and the culprits are rats who entered through a hole for wiring pic.twitter.com/PCTnMpBxzC
Journalist Nandan Pratim Sharma Bordoloi tweeted a video, believed to be from the same ATM. The video shows a dead rat lying in a pile of shredded notes.
Through his handle @NANDANPRATIM, he posted: “Really size doesn’t matter! What a rat this is! Rat-bitten bank notes worth Rs12 lakh 38 thousand. Torn notes and dead rat found inside ATM in Tinsukia Assam. Rat found dead before little one could bite remaining Rs 17 lakh 10 thousand.”
Really Size doesn’t matter!! What a rat this is! Rat-bitten bank notes worth Rs 12 lakh 38 thousand. Torn notes and dead rat found inside ATM in Tinsukia Assam. Rat found dead before little one could bite remaining Rs 17 lakh 10 thousand. pic.twitter.com/3Omns7gAZH
— Nandan Pratim Sharma Bordoloi 🇮🇳 (@NANDANPRATIM) June 18, 2018
According to media reports, police officials investigating the incident have ruled out any foul play and have blamed rats for nibbling on the currency notes. According to a report in the newspaper Hindustan Times an official said the rats could have entered the machine through a small hole meant for wires.
Stunned tweeps tried to make sense of the situation.
Twitter user @Karma_Paljor wrote: “Yes! The rat did a fine job of making a very expensive nest worth 12 lakhs.”
Yes! The rat did a fine job of making a very expensive nest worth 12 lakhs pic.twitter.com/SglTeV1Xum
— Karma Paljor (@Karma_Paljor) June 18, 2018
Some twitter users including @CryptoTrap joked this was a good reason to switch to cashless currency. The tweep posted: “This wouldn’t have happened if they used the new revolutionary computer crypto currency money #blockchain #bitcoin. Take that atheists.”
This wouldn’t have happened if they used the new revolutionary computer $crypto currency money #blockchain #bitcoin 😎😎 take that atheists (wubalubadubdub): Rats chew up cash worth $18,000 in an Indian ATM https://t.co/vqFbrEFVLV
— çrÿptø✟®ā℗ (@CryptoTrap) June 19, 2018
And @female_abroad posted: “Make sure to not rely on ATMS when travelling.”
Make sure to not rely on ATMS when travelling 😆 #atm #india #rat #travel #money https://t.co/8E7ut5Wn6S
— Female Abroad (@female_abroad) June 20, 2018
Tweep @XDannyxxBoyX added: “Imagine you stored close to $20,000 of your money in an atm or a safe and RATS ate it. I’d boycott Ratatouille for the rest of my life. There’d also never be another Stuart Little, just sayin’.”
Imagine you stored close to $20,000 of your money in an atm or a safe and RATS ate it. I’d boycott Ratatouille for the rest of my life. There’d also never be another Stuart Little just sayin https://t.co/fiQ1Ql5Crh
— Thomas Shelby (@XDannyxxBoyX) June 19, 2018
However, Twitter user @saiharsha could not believe the picture or the news. He tweeted:”...this is a fake one, created through Photoshop... Moreover ATM machines do not allow rats to go into the money rack as it is protected by an alarm.”
And @OlisaFranklins wrote: “The authorities should prosecute and jail these rats for money sabotaging.”
