Patna: Guard found hacked to death inside ATM

A security guard manning an ATM of a state-run bank in Bihar’ capital Patna was brutally hacked to dead by unknown attackers late on Friday night, police said on Saturday.

The deceased, identified as Dipak Kumar, was on night duty at the Central Bank of India ATM inside the Mauryalok shopping complex near the busy Dakbungalow area when the incident happened. The ATM is only a stone’s throw away from the Kotwali police station.

The murder was not noticed till around 5.30 am on Saturday as the robbers pulled down the shutters of the ATM and fled the scene after killing the 40-year-old guard, a resident of Golghar area. They failed to prise open the automated teller machine.

Police said Kumar’s elder son Amar, who visited the ATM in search of his father after he failed to return home at the usual time of 5am, found his body in a pool of blood. It appeared from the scene of the crime that Kumar had resisted the attackers and his body was hacked several times by the assailants.

Amar immediately alerted the Kotwali Police, who rushed to the spot to conduct initial investigations. None of the assailants has been tracked so far.

According to deputy superintendent of police (law and order) Shibli Nomani, the ATM was found to have been damaged but had not been opened.

“We have lodged an FIR and formed a special team to track down the robbers. The police have recovered the CCTV footage and are analysing it to ascertain the identity of the attackers,” Nomani added.

“We have taken the matter seriously as such incidents are rare in such busy areas, which witness heavy movement all night. Police are also not ruling out the possibility of personal enmity behind the murder,” SSP Manu Maharaaj said.

An irate mob blocked the main road near Kotwali police station and disrupted vehicular traffic and shouted slogans against the administration. They demanded the immediate arrest of the killers as well as compensation for the bereaved family.

Kotwali police SHO Avinash Kumar has been removed from his post following the incident and sent to the police lines on charges of dereliction of duty.