Attacker 'not in City,' cops look for him elsewhere

Special teams of the City police have left for neighbouring states to track down the man who brutally attacked a woman inside an unguarded ATM kiosk of Corporation Bank just metres from the Ulsoorgate police station on Tuesday morning. The suspect is most likely to have fled Bangalore.

In all, eight special teams have been formed to solve the case which shocked the City. Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime), Pronab Mohanty, is leading the probe. Commissioner of Police, Raghavendra H Auradkar, insisted on Wednesday the case had been taken “seriously” and sleuths were already on the job.

He also stressed that the suspect intended to rob the woman and no personal enmity was involved.

Self-explanatory

The CCTV footage was self-explanatory. Police are also analysing the footage of the CCTV camera installed at the busy traffic junction for possible leads.

Auradkar defended his force, saying 28 of the 32 ATM-related crimes in the City in the present year had been “solved”. The crimes include thefts, robberies and botched attempts.

A senior officer investigating the case said the CCTV footage of the incident — the best piece of evidence to identify the culprit — had been sent to all police stations in the State. Besides, the help of police forces in the neighbouring states has been sought.

Police teams had left for Chennai, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and other places in search of the man, who is most likely to have fled Bangalore as CCTV footage was telecast by all regional television news channels on Tuesday evening, the officer said.

In the footage, the attacker is clearly seen taking away the mobile phone of the victim, Jyothi Uday, a 44-year-old section manager in-charge of cheque truncation with Corporation Bank, Service Branch, Mission Road.

Police say the suspect did that to prevent Jyothi from raising an alarm before he ran away. Sleuths are trying to trace the location of the mobile phone, so as to track down the attacker if he is still possessing the handset.

Did he have an accomplice?

Police are also investigating whether the attacker was all alone or did he an accomplice. A senior officer said an accomplice might have been waiting outside the ATM kiosk as the attacker went in.

The accomplice might have been guarding the kiosk even as the attacker went on the job.