Two staff members of a private firm involved in loading cash in ATMs were arrested in Rayagada district in Odisha for fraud of over Rs 42 lakh.
The two youths, identified as Prabhat Kumar Panda and Umashankar Alijing, were presented in a court on Tuesday and sent to jail as their bail plea was rejected.
During their interrogation, the two accused have confessed to their crime and given Rs 5 lakh they had siphoned off, said Inspector in-charge of Rayagada police station Rabindra Kumar Patra. They had been siphoning off money for over two years and have allegedly taken away Rs 42.39 lakh from three ATMs.
The fraud was detected during an audit following the demonetisation. The accused had been given separate passwords by the banks and they were not to reveal those to each other, informed Mr Patra.
Both the accused were allegedly taking cash from the banks but not loading all of it in the ATMs. “They were somehow managing to provide fake receipts to the banks,” he added. In case of an inspection, they allegedly transferred cash from one to the other ATM.
After demonetisation on November 8, the banks concerned sought detailed information about cash transfers from the private firm. An audit revealed a shortage of Rs 42.39 lakh in three ATMs. According to sources, shortage of Rs 17.75 lakh from the SBI ATM at JKpur, Rs 22.08 lakh from Bank of India ATM at Rayagada Block Colony and Rs 2,55 lakh from Indian Overseas Bank at at Indiranagar of Rayagada was detected.
The accused were arrested after the firm filed an FIR in Rayagada Town police station.
The accused had been taking cash from the banks but not loading all of it in the ATMs
