Cuttack: Repeated instances of cash loot from ATM kiosks in the state have raised serious concerns both among the police as well as bank officials.
Senior bank officials and police held a meeting in Bhubaneswar April 13 to discuss the tightening safety measures to curb rising ATM loots. The Crime Branch has also issued standard operating procedure (SOP) to superintendents of police (SPs) in all districts to strengthen the security at the banks. In spite of this, reports of ATM loots continue to pour in from different parts of the state.
Exposing the poor security management, unidentified miscreants broke open the chest of an ATM kiosk of India Overseas Bank in Tirtol police limits in Jagatsinghpur and decamped with Rs 12.23 lakh May 11 night.
In another incident, miscreants looted Rs 10,49,200 from a SBI ATM near ITI Square in Sahadevkhunta police limits in Balasore May 4. Similarly, Rs 24.96 lakh was looted from Kadarabad SBI ATM in the district on the same day.
Unidentified miscreants had stormed into a SBI ATM at Gandarpur, about 200 metres away from Chauliaganj police station, October 16, 2016 and decamped with Rs 16 lakh. Exactly one month before the loot, some miscreants had looted about Rs 67 lakh by cutting open two ATM machines in Balasore district.
Speaking about the frequent ATM loots, retired banker Sarat Chandra Sahu said, “CCTV cameras are not installed in majority of the ATM kiosks. Besides, security personnel are also not deployed in the kiosks. Consequently, robbers mostly from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Bihar are striking the ATM kiosks and looting the cash easily.”
Advocate Tusharkant Nayak said, “As night patrolling by police personnel has been intensified in the urban areas, now robbers are targeting ATMs in rural areas. These robbers often target ATM kiosks that do not have security guards and are in isolated locations.”
Sources said the police investigating the Gandarpur ATM loot case had traced the robbers to Haryana. A team of police had visited Haryana and it also had an exchange of fire with the robbers.
Retired DGP SN Tiwari said, “Bank authorities are not taking necessary measures for safety of ATM kiosks as well as the customers. As a result, robbers are looting cash from ATM using gas cutters. In many cases, police trace the robbers to outside the state.”
Sources said DGP RP Sharma has directed the SPs to strictly follow the SOP issued for safety of banks. He also instructed them to initiate prompt actions to nab the robbers, irrespective from where they belong. Besides, he has directed his officials to check the ATM kiosks of their respective areas during their night patrolling.
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