Three held for stealing Rs 1.49 crore

Hyderabad: The Cyberabad police has arrested three Cash Management Service employees for stealing Rs 1.49 crore from ATMs in the last five months in the Neredmet area. The trio were employed to recharge ATMs.

Police said they used to return to the ATMs hours after filling the money to open the chest using passwords and steal the cash. Due to poor auditing, the banks, SBH and Union Bank of India, detected the theft only after five months.

The trio, who were deployed to replenish cash in 23 ATMs in the ECIL area, robbed around 19 ATMs, where there were no security guards. Police could recover only Rs 73 lakh as they had already spent half of the amount touring the country, visiting pubs and casinos in Goa and other places.

The police started investigation after CMS lodged a complaint with the Cyberabad police. The arrested men were identified as M. Sudheer Kumar, 24, from Moosarambagh of Malakpet, M. Ashok, 26, from Vinayak Nagar of Neredmet and G. Manoj, 24, from Moosarambagh of Malakpet, all working for CMS as custodians.

“The main accused Sudheer Kumar had the habit of leading a lavish life while he was pursuing BTech. After he dropped out he got habituated to bad habits. When he joined CMS he chalked out a plan to steal the money with his colleagues Manoj and Ashok,” said Malkajgiri DCP Rama Rajeswari.

Police said CMS officials from Mumbai used to provide a password for each ATM on the day of replenishment. “After filling the money and giving details to the bank and CMS they used to leave the ATMs. The banks would receive an automated message about cash replenishment. After that, one of them used to visit the ATM, open the chest and take the money,” said a police official. He said the theft was going on since December.

The main accused, Sudheer Kumar, left home, hired a new apartment and had been living separately to lead a lavish life, so that his family would not know about it.