A group of three men used a SUV and ropes to drag a ATM kiosk containing Rs 9.72 lakh and fled with it at Kharabwadi village near Chakan. The incident took palce around 2am on Sunday.
Police said the unit was not bolted to the floor. It was placed on the floor and connected with power and internet cables. The men did not realised this as they tied ropes around the unit to drag it out.
The theft comes close to the similar incident at another ATM kiosk in Chakan on November 4. A cash dispenser containing Rs17 lakh was dragged out and taken away. Police suspect the same men could be involved in the two thefts. Because the modus operandi was similar. The fact that an SUV was used in both cases.
On Sunday the three men with white SUV arrived at the kiosk around 2.10am and strapped the ropes around the cash dispenser. They tied the other end of the ropes to the SUV and sprayed a blue coloured liquid on the CCTV cameras inside the kiosk that the lenses was made dysfunctional, the police said.
A driver started the SUV, accelerated where the cash unit got dragged out of the kiosk. His two companions loaded the unit into the vehicle and they fled.
ATM kiosk shattered when the ATM machine was dragged out, the police said. A night patrol team of the Chakan police spotted the SUV speeding away and made a futile attempt to chase and intercept it.
A CCTV camera inside the kiosk showed a masked man spraying the coloured liquid on the cameras. Another CCTV camera, placed in a building in front of the ATM kiosk, has recorded the theft.
Officer of the bank, Suraj Kachale (28), lodged a complaint with the Chakan police. Assistant inspector Pramod Kshirsagar of the Chakan police said a hunt for the three suspects was on.
