In a swift heist on Sunday, four masked men stole nearly Rs 30 lakh from an SBI ATM in the Rangareddy district of Telangana within four minutes. The robbers cut open the machine using gas cutters and an iron rod while one man stood guard outside. They cleverly disabled the sirens but failed to obscure an internal CCTV camera that recorded the theft. Police believe the gang, suspected to be from Haryana, may be linked to similar ATM thefts in Bengaluru and Tamil Nadu. Investigators are reviewing CCTV footage to trace the culprits and recover the stolen cash.
In a brazen early morning theft, four masked individuals infiltrated an ATM kiosk, hacked open the machine, and successfully made off with nearly Rs 30 lakh in a mere four minutes. This audacious robbery transpired at an SBI ATM located in the Rangareddy district of Telangana on Sunday morning.
At 1:56 am, surveillance footage captured a man exiting a vehicle and calmly approaching the kiosk. He proceeded to spray a substance on the CCTV camera at the entrance to obscure their identities. Additionally, the thieves cut the wires of the emergency siren. However, they overlooked the CCTV camera inside the kiosk, which recorded the entirety of the theft.
Three individuals, armed with a gas cutter and an iron rod, were visible dismantling the cash dispensing machine while one person maintained a lookout outside. They extracted cash amounting to Rs 29.69 lakh and departed the scene by 2 am, even rolling down the shutter behind them following their four-minute operation.
NDTV spoke with Raju, the area assistant commissioner of police, who reported that the car had been tracked using several CCTV cameras along their escape route. “There were five individuals. One was in the vehicle, one was waiting outside, and three were inside. They came equipped with gas cutters and iron rods to breach the ATM and seize the bundles of cash,” he explained to NDTV.
“We suspect this is a gang operating from Haryana. They also attempted to rob another ATM at Mylardevpally but were thwarted by an electric shock while trying to disable the alarm sensors, leading them to abandon that attempt. We believe the same gang has been involved in ATM robberies in Bengaluru and Hosur in Tamil Nadu, where they employed a similar method,” investigators informed NDTV.
To apprehend the culprits, multiple teams have been established, and efforts to recover the stolen cash are underway.