The Coimbatore City Police on Thursday arrested two men, who were employed as contract workers at a private hospital in the city, on charges of stealing over ₹8 lakh using the ATM cards that belonged to a woman, who died of COVID-19 in the hospital in 2021.
According to the police, the accused were identified as Atul Gogoi (55) and Raj Pansing (31), who were migrant workers from Assam and were employed as contract conservancy workers at the hospital on Avinashi Road. During the second wave of COVID-19, a 52-year-old woman from Gobichettipalayam in Erode district was admitted at the hospital after testing positive for the infection. She died on May 4, 2021 and the hospital subsequently handed over her belongings, including her purse that had two ATM cards inside, to her husband M. Krishnasamy (55).
In March this year, when Mr. Krishnasamy checked his wife's bank accounts from Gobichettipalayam, he detected multiple transactions even after her death. When he checked the purse, the two ATM cards were found missing. He reported this to the Erode District Police, who in turn alerted the Coimbatore City Police as the transactions were detected from the ATM located close to the private hospital, the police said.
Based on Mr. Krishnasamy's complaint, the Peelamedu police registered a case. Inspector of Peelamedu police station M. Amutha, who was the investigation officer, said the two men got hold of the deceased's purse before it was handed over to the husband and they allegedly stole the two ATM cards.
“The purse had the PIN numbers for both the ATM cards written in a piece of paper,” she said. Using the two ATM cards, the duo had been accused to have withdrawn ₹8,67,710 between May 2021 and April 2022. They allegedly spent all the money through various ways, including a visit to their respective hometowns in Assam and using the money for their families, Ms. Amutha said.
On Thursday, the Peelamedu police arrested Atul Gogoi and Raj Pansing from their accommodations in Goldwins and Poongothai Nagar respectively. The accused were in possession of the ATM cards at the time of arrest, the Inspector said. They were remanded in judicial custody.
