ATM cash guard shot at, ₹25 lakh looted in daylight robbery at Roorkee

Two bike-borne youths robbed ATM cash boxes containing ₹25 lakh in a daylight robbery in Roorkee on Saturday.

The accused also shot at and injured the guard of cash delivery van, in which the money was brought for loading in an ATM of Axis Bank near BSM square in the city.

The robbery created ripples in the city. After getting the information, deputy inspector general of police, Garhwal range, Pushpak Kumar Jyoti and senior superintendent of Haridwar police Krishan Kumar VK arrived on the scene and took stock of the situation.

According to the Ganga Nahar police, the van of Secure Value, a company entrusted with the job of replenishing ATMs with cash in the city, arrived with cash boxes to fill up the Axis Bank ATM near BSM square at around 1pm. While two employees entered the ATM, the security guard, Shakeel Ahmed, stood guard near the van.

The employees were carrying out their task of refilling cash into the ATM, when two bike-borne youths arrived on the scene. While one of the youths grabbed the guard from behind, the other shot at him. Ahmed fell on the ground. Despite bleeding profusely, he tried to stop the assailants, but they entered the ATM kiosk hurling a revolver in the air and scaring the people around. They snatched the cash boxes containing ₹25 lakh from the employees pointing revolver at them and vanished in the nearby by-lanes on their bike.

The entire incident took place in about two minutes.

The company employees immediately informed police and their higher authorities about the robbery.

Later, the injured guard was taken to a private nursing home by the police.

A case of attempt to murder and armed robbery has been registered at the Ganga Nahar police station and investigations are on. The police were monitoring the CCTV cameras installed at the ATM and nearby premises to nab the culprits. They were also taking help from forensic experts.