4 gangsters held in connection with ATM theft case

Four members of an interstate gang from Tamil Nadu were on Wednesday arrested in connection with the theft of money totalling Rs 58.97 lakh that was brought in a vehicle to be deposited in an Automatic Teller Machine here in May, police said.

Police intercepted a car here early morning and nabbed the four members of the 'Ramjinagar gang', including the leader Deepak, who had allegedly stolen Rs 58,97,600 from a parked vehicle that was brought to upload in the ATM, Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh M Bhagwat said.

Police seized Rs 4.1 lakh and three ganja packets containing about 6 kg of the narcotic substance from their possession, Bhagwat said.

The incident happened on May 7 when the vehicle of a cash-management firm that replenishes ATMs carrying the box containing the money reached a private bank's ATM at Vanasthalipuram here.

The vehicle was parked by the roadside. Some miscreants threw some currency notes near the vehicle and diverted the attention of the gunmen and fled with the cash box, police said.

It was learnt that the gang members who hail from Ramjinagar in Tiruchirapalli district of Tamil Nadu might be involved in the incident as they adopt a similar modus operandi, the Commissioner said.

Immediately, police teams proceeded to Tiruchirapalli to nab the culprits but they were absconding. Following a tip, police managed to nab the four gang members when they came again to Hyderabad for committing offences, police sources said.

On being questioned, they said Deepak was the gang leader and they were involved in several cases of theft and snatching bags from vehicles in various parts of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi, police said.

Ten other gang members are absconding and efforts were on to nab them, they said. Explaining their modus operandi, police said the gang comprising 10-14 members target a vehicle parked near banks/ATMs and one of them throws around five to ten currency notes in the denomination of Rs 500, 200, 100 near the vehicle.

Another gang member would then tell the driver that his money had fallen on the road. The remaining members will be watching the movement of passers-by and when the driver alights to check, the others would decamp with valuables kept in the vehicle, police added.