ATM custodian held for stealing Rs 5 lakh

A site custodian of  Corporation Bank ATMs has been arrested for stealing Rs 5 lakh from an ATM booth at Nangloi, police said on Wednesday.

Kamal Kant, 27, who works with CMS Securities, was held after a shortage of cash was
noticed at an ATM booth installed on Najafgarh Road in March.

After witnessing a regular shortage in money, CMS Securities’ security advisor complained to the crime branch.

“During investigation, it was found that the ATM’s seal was not tampered with. It indicated work of some known person,” said Sanjay Kumar Jain, deputy commissioner of police (crime and railways).

Accordingly, all concerned employees were examined at length, but no clue was found. Police also scrutinised CCTV footage at the ATM booth.

Besides this, on the basis of local intelligence they zeroed in on Kamal.

“His took care of maintenance of ATMs and loaded cash in them. For this purpose, a particular lock code and keys of ATMs were provided to him and another code was provided to another site custodian by the company,” Jain added.

To open the ATM, both the site custodians had to be present and use both lock codes and keys.

Both  site custodians were instructed by the company to keep their lock codes confidential and not to share it with each other.

“Initially, Kamal concealed facts, but after sustained examination, he broke down and accepted his involvement in the thefts,” Jain said.

At his instance, Rs 4 lakh cash along with a Hyundai Santro car purchased from the stolen amount was recovered.

As he already had a lock code, he secretly noted the other custodian’s lock code.

He knew the guard posted at the ATM booth left at 4 am after his duty and hence he reached the ATM booth early in the morning.

“He opened the ATM with the help of both lock codes and removed cash. He was also
doing some minor theft of rejected notes from ATMs quite frequently,” Jain added.