Botched ATM heist chars ₹21 lakh
An attempted robbery at an ATM in Dombivali, India resulted in a fire that completely charred currency notes worth ₹21.11 lakh ($30,000). The thief and his accomplices fled after failing to break into the machine using a gas cutter. The incident is under investigation.
Thane: An attempted robbery at an ATM in Dombivali on Sunday led to an unprecedented situation. While the thief and his accomplices managed to flee after failing to break into the machine using a gas cutter, the ATM’s electrical system became overheated due to his fiddling, causing a fire. The result: currency notes worth ₹21.11 lakh stored in the machine were completely charred.
The incident occurred between 1am and 2am on Sunday at a State Bank of India ATM at Sai Baba Chowk on Mahatma Phule Road, Dombivli west. It came to light when some local residents informed the fire brigade after they noticed smoke emanating from the kiosk.
While fire brigade officials brought the flames under control, personnel from Vishnunagar police and the bank also reached the spot within a short time.
“As soon as this information was received by the control room of the bank, the employees there informed the Electric Payment Services System which operates the ATM. The mechanical staff there immediately came to Dombivli and inspected the ATM machine. But by then, the cash in the ATM as well as the machine was fully gutted,” said a police officer.
CCTV footage from the opposite side of the road showed that at around 1am on Sunday, a man entered the ATM kiosk and tried to break into the machine using a sharp cutter. He was likely accompanied by other men, said police, but since they destroyed the CCTV camera inside the ATM prior to the attempted robbery, their number and identity remained under wraps.
“The accused struggled for an hour but did not succeed as the ATM had a strong protective casing which couldn’t be broken easily. Frustrated, they fled from the scene, leaving behind the gas cutter cylinder. As the ATM was sabotaged, its internal electrical system overheated and burnt the interiors including the box used to store cash,” said the police officer, adding that police had registered a case against unknown accused in connection with the incident.
ATM operator Rakesh Pawar said, “We don’t know how many thieves attempted the robbery, although they were unsuccessful owing to some issues. Maybe the spark happened when they were attempting the robbery and the machine got heated as they tried to cut it open for a long time.”
HT reached out to State Bank of India’s corporate communications team, but they declined to comment on the matter.
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