Criminals using Muslim veil for thefts and escape survelliance cameras

MUMBAI: Two thieves dressed in burqa opened the vault of an ATM in Kalher on Bhiwandi Thane Road on Saturday night and made away with nearly Rs 16 lakh. While there was only one CCTV camera installed in the kiosk, no security guard had been posted.

On Sunday morning, a person found the ATM open and informed the Narpoli police station. The police reached the spot immediately and alerted the bank. Footage of the CCTV camera inside the kiosk shows two persons entering and opening the machine. A police source said a team from the private agency, which has been tasked with the ATM’s maintenance, had found that the thieves had opened the machine’s vault, where cash is stored, using the security password. Cops suspect the robbery to be a inside job and will question all those who had access to the password.

Following a brutal attack on a woman inside an ATM kiosk in Bangalore last month, the security issue has come into sharp focus. Earlier this month, the Maharashtra government had asked the Reserve Bank of India and the heads of leading financial institutions to instal state-of-the-art CCTV cameras both inside and outside the ATM kiosks before January 30 and to deploy security guards round the clock.

“We have found negligence on part of the bank as it had not posted any security guard at the ATM and had installed only one CCTV camera inside the kiosk. CCTV cameras should have been installed outside the kiosk too,” said Mahenra Shelar, sub-inspector, Narpoli police station. He said an earlier police’s suggestion to the bank to post a security guard at night at the ATM was not heeded. The police have registered a theft and house break-in case and started a probe.

Source: Times Of India