Even as the cops claim that the robberies are the handiwork of a tech-savvy interstate gang, they haven’t made any headway in any of the cases so far. Since some of these loots were reported two months back and none of the cases has been solved yet, locals say that the objective of crime prevention has taken a backseat.
Social activists and city intellectuals have expressed their concerns over the incompetence of the police in the matter of crime prevention. “The high profile ATM loots have come as a challenge for the Commissionerate Police, whose tagline is ‘We care-We dare’,” said a social activist.
According to sources, unidentified miscreants had decamped with `17.48 lakh from the Corporation Bank of India ATM near the High Court Square here late March 2. The bank officials had informed the Lalbagh police about the loot the following morning. After preliminary investigation, the police claimed that the goons had decamped with cash after hacking the ATM password and without damaging the teller machine.
In the wake of the loot, a special team headed by a Superintendent of Police (SP)-rank officer is camping outside the state with the hope of being able to crack the case, but so far no luck.
It is a general topic of discussion where denizens of the Silver City wonder to what extent they are safe, when the High Court area, with 24X7 tight security, is not.
In another similar incident, miscreants had decamped with `16 lakh from an SBI ATM at Gandarpur area here October 16 last year.
Sources said the thieves had cut the machine open with a gas cutter before fleeing with cash. Although the ATM kiosk is barely 200 metres away from the Chauliaganj police station, the cops here had no clue about the incident. The loot came to light after some passersby saw the broken locks and half-open shutter of the unmanned ATM counter.
Although the Chauliaganj police claimed to have traced the gang involved in this case to Haryana’s Mewat, so far no arrests have been made even as nearly five months have passed since the loot happened.
Police sources, however, claimed that there was an exchange of fire between the cops and ATM thieves in Mewat but somehow the latter managed to escape.
The cyber criminals have created panic among the public and banks in the twin cities by emptying teller machines of cash after hacking into them.
“The robbers are much ahead in technology compared to the police. The cops are still in their infancy,” said advocate Tapas Dwivedi, adding that the Commissionerate Police lacked daringness.
Retired DGP SN Tiwari said, “The Orissa Police are ill-equipped to tackle cyber crime cases. Many of the officials are unaware of general computing. In such scenario, cyber crime cases are their worst nightmare.”
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