ATM techs held for ₹12 lakh theft in Ghaziabad after 2-month plot

One of the accused worked for a company that sent him to repair the ATM lock, during which he deliberately left some screws loose

Two men who stole ₹12.4 lakh from an ATM in Jassipura, Ghaziabad on July 24 were arrested on Saturday, police said, adding that the accused are ATM technicians and spent two months planning the crime.

The accused, Sonu and Suraj, spent two months planning the crime. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

The accused were identified as Suraj Narayan, 33, who is from Ayodhya and a resident of Sangam Vihar, Delhi, and his friend Sonu Rajput, 34, from Mainpuri and a resident of Munirka, Delhi, police said.

“We caught the two accused using electronic surveillance,” said Dhawal Jaiswal, deputy commissioner of police of the city zone. “They were familiar with the ATM. Sonu is an ATM technician with a service-providing company. As part of their plan, Sonu broke the lock dialer of the ATM on purpose. When the lock had to be replaced, Sonu himself was sent by his company to fix it. During the repair, he intentionally left some screws loose. Then, on July 18, the other accused Suraj, who works with a different service-providing company, came on a bike and sprayed black paint on the CCTV camera inside the ATM room. On July 19, Sonu arrived again and snapped the wires of the CCTV camera. On July 24, they arrived in the morning on a bike, pulled out cash from the ATM, and fled,” the officer added.

The accused allegedly told police that they divided the ₹12.4 lakh equally between themselves.

An FIR was registered under BNS sections 331(4) (house-trespass or housebreaking) and 305 (theft) against unidentified persons at Kotwali police station based on a complaint by executives of the company that operates the ATM.

“In CCTV footage from near a flyover, we saw the accused calling someone from their cellphone. We conducted in electronic surveillance to learn about the caller and tracked down the accused,” said an officer associated with the case. The accused were arrested from near the Vijay Nagar flyover in Ghaziabad, police said.