The Surathkal Police successfully arrested four persons who attempted to steal an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) of South Indian Bank, at Shikaripura in Shivamogga district.
Commissioner of Police Kuldeep Kumar R Jain said that the arrested are Devaraj alias Devu (24) , Bharath H (20), Nagaraj Naik alias Nagu (21) and Dhanraj Naik alias Dhanu (22). All the arrested hail from Doddathanda in Begur village in Shivamogga. The police have recovered a bike worth Rs 50,000, an earth mover worth Rs 15 lakh and two mobilephones from the arrested. The value of the total seized properties is Rs 15.50 lakh.
In fact, Dhanraj Naik had assisted three others in committing the offence.
South Indian Bank Manager Rohith had filed a complaint to Surathkal Police on August 4 over an attempt to steal the ATM of the bank situated at Idya in Surathkal.
In his complaint, he said that he had received a call from CCTV Central team of the bank on August 4 at 2.13 am on an attempt to steal the ATM. On receiving the call, he visited the ATM, and noticed the glass pane of the ATM was broken and the ATM was found dumped on the ground floor of the building. The thieves had used an earth mover to steal the ATM. They had fled the spot when they could not steal it. CCTV had captured footage of the theft attempt.
Following the complaint, the Commissioner of Police had constituted a special team led by DCP (Law and Order) Anshu Kumar and Mangaluru North ACP Manoj Kumar Naik.
Surathkal inspector Mahesh Prasad, PSIs Raghu Naik and Arun Kumar and others who investigated the case were successful in arresting the four. During the course of investigation, the police had recovered an earth mover parked at Jokatte. A complaint of theft of an earth mover was registered at Padubidri Station.
The Commissioner of Police said that all the arrested were produced before First Additional CJM Court which in turn remanded Devaraj, Bharat and Nagaraj in four days of police custody while Dhanraj was remanded in judicial custody.
Of the arrested, Devaraj and Nagaraj are charged under two theft cases at Shikaripura rural and Shikaripura town station.
The Commissioner said during interrogation, they had revealed that they tried to break open an ATM using an earth mover in front of Shiva Temple at Vinoba Nagara in Shivamogga on July 26. Vinoba Nagara Police had registered a case under IPC Section 457, 380, 427, and 511. They had also revealed that they had stolen an earth mover that was parked by the side of Padubidri-Karkala Road on August 4. Padubidri police had registered a case under IPC Section 379.
The investigation is in progress, said the Commissioner.