5 held for robbing Rs 1.4 cr from custodians of ATM cash deposit company in Vizag

Visakhapatnam: The Vizianagaram police on Tuesday arrested five members of a gang that assaulted and took away Rs 1.4 crore from four employees of an ATM cash deposit company in Vizianagaram last month.

The gang cheated the four by offering them Rs 60 lakh in Rs 2,000 notes in exchange for Rs 500 notes worth Rs 2 crore.

The arrested were Rayapalli Vinod, B Govinda Rao, A. Sai alias Tattoo Sai, Nakka Santhosh and M Siva Shankar. The police recovered Rs 80 lakh from the gang. After the arrest of the five, a search was on for more members of the racket.

Vizianagaram SP Deepika said that four cash custodians of Secure Value India Pvt Ltd, who were responsible for depositing cash in the ATMs of various banks in Vizianagaram areas, were tasked to deposit Rs 1.4 crore in various ATMs on August 23. They deposited only Rs 4 lakh in an ATM and siphoned off Rs 1.36 crore.

The fraud came to light in the auditing. The firm and the banks lodged a complaint against the four with Gantyada police station in Vizianagaram, saying they siphoned off over Rs 1.42 crore.

The police registered a case and arrested the four. Investigations revealed the four diverted Rs 1.4 crore in Rs 500 denomination in exchange for a bundle of Rs 2,000 denomination notes from the gang.

“As per the agreement, the four were to give Rs 1.4 crore in Rs 500 denomination to a gang, who would in return handover Rs 2 crore in Rs 2,000 denomination notes. When the four visited Korlam village under Gantyada police station limits in Vizianagaram district to execute the deal, the gang assaulted them and robbed them of Rs 1.4 crore,” the SP said.

The police recovered Rs 80 lakh in cash, three bikes, a gold chain and three mobile phones from them.