An Automated Teller Machine on the outskirts of the city was misused and a sum of Rs. 20 lakh stolen in the early hours on Wednesday.
The incident occurred in the ATM attached to the Canara Bank branch in Poornankuppam on the East Coast Road.
According to police, the watchman realised the theft when he woke up at 4.30 a.m and alerted the staff of the bank. Bank manager Balasubramanian, in turn, alerted the Thavalakuppam police immediately.
V. Deivasigamani, Superintendent of Police, told The Hindu , “The robbery occurred in a span of just five minutes. It could have been committed by someone well acquainted with passwords and key details. The video footage recorded by the surveillance camera mounted just above the ATM reveals that the money was taken away between 1.12 a.m. and 1.20 a.m.’’
Police said the culprit had a helmet on his head to avoid detection and sprayed some kind of dye to blacken the surveillance camera. He allegedly used a key and a 16-digit password to open the ATM vault.
Senior police officers inspected the scene of crime and conducted a detailed inquiry. Fingerprint experts lifted some prints from the crime scene.
The Thavalakuppam Police have registered a case under sections 457 (House Trespass) and 380 (Theft) of Indian Penal Code.
Jeweller robbed
In another incident on Tuesday night, an unknown person broke open the box of a bike belonging to a jeweller and decamped with Rs five lakh. Police sources said Govindaraj, who runs a jewellery shop on Bharathy Street, had kept the money in the storage box of his bike.
He was proceeding to his house at 9.30 p.m. He parked the vehicle at the intersection of Nehru Street and Bharathy Street to buy vegetables. The box in the two-wheeler was then prised open and the cash stolen.