PNS | NALGONDA
In a daring attempt, unidentified miscreants took away Rs 23 lakh from the automated teller machine (ATM) of the State Bank of India at Aitipamula village under Kattangur mandal in the district in the early hours of Sunday.
The footage secured by the police from the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera installed in the ATM centre revealed that five persons were involved in the theft. They came to the centre the centre by van and three persons wearing masks entered the centre, while two others stood guard outside. They sprayed black paint on the CCTV cameras to conceal their identity and broke open the ATM with a cutter, the police said.
The ATM is located beside the Hyderabad-Vijayawada national highway at Aitipamula. There were two ATMs in the Centre. The burglars seemed to cut open the second ATM, too, but failed, the police said. The police deployed a CLUES team to collect evidence.
Inspector of Police Raghava Rao said that a case of registered based on the complaint by the SBI branch manager. A manhunt is underway for the culprits, he said.
The police expressed suspicion that a gang from Haryana could have been responsible for the incident. The modus operandi adopted by the gang was similar to the one used by another gang which burgled the ATM centre at Manyamchelka in the district in the past.
