Six people involved in the ATM theft case in Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu were arrested on Tuesday and remanded to custody, the police said. A CCTV video of the crime, which took place on February 28, 4.30 am, showed a four-member gang with masks on, decamping with the whole ATM machine after being unable to open it.
The gang unsuccessfully tried to break the ATM of Bank of Baroda on the Tiruppur-Uthukuli Road, and took it away by dragging it out of the kiosk with the help of a vehicle. Later, they abandoned near Perundurai in Erode district.
The police, with the help of the CCTV footage, managed to trace a container bearing Haryana registration near Karungalpalayam in Erode on Monday evening. They cordoned off a godown there and arrested six people.
Police also seized Rs 69,210, two country-made pistols, nine cartridges, a gas welding machine, gas cutter, oxygen cylinder and some clothes. The arrested persons were later produced before court in Uthukuli and remanded.
According to bank officials, an amount of Rs 15 lakh had been deposited in the ATM on February 19 and it was estimated that around Rs 1.5 lakh was still left in the ATM as of Sunday.
The robbery came to light when people reached the ATM and were shocked to find the door of the ATM shattered and the ATM machine missing. Bank officials, meanwhile, had also alleged that proper security was not in place at the ATM and that there were no security guards on night shifts for two years now.
The police had registered a case and were analysing the CCTV footage with the help of forensic experts.