Bengaluru: Cash custodian arrested for stealing Rs 1.47 crore from ATMs

Bengaluru: A cash custodian working with a private cash management services company has been arrested by the Kumaraswamy Layout police for stealing cash to the tune of Rs 1.47 crore from ATM machines. Rs 91 lakh in cash has been recovered from the accused.

The accused has been identified as Shivakumar, 30, a resident of Naidu Layout in J.P. Nagar, who hails from Kollegala in Chamarajanagar district. He was working as a cash custodian with Writer Safeguard Pvt Ltd, a cash management services company, located at Wilson Garden from March 2013.

According to the police, Shivakumar was given the responsibility to deposit cash at ATM machines of various banks in Banashankari and he has been doing it for years. However, he stopped coming to office from October 2.

Recently, the company officials found that Rs 1,47,91,000 in cash deposited in two ATM machines was stolen. They suspected Shivakumar’s role as he was the one who was depositing cash and knew passwords of those ATMs, from where the cash was stolen.

“A few days later, the accused went for work as if he did not know anything about the case. But the officials of the firm caught him and brought him to the police station. Based on the complaint filed by the management, he was arrested. Shivakumar has confessed that he had stolen the money easily, as he knew the passwords of the ATMs and as there were no security guards at the ATM kiosks. He had stolen Rs 42,91,000 from two ATMs of ICICI and HDFC banks in Kumaraswamy Layout police station limits, while Rs 1.05 crore from an HDFC bank ATM near PES College in Hanumanthanagar police station,” the police added.

Investigations revealed that he had given the stolen money to his friends and Rs 91 lakh was recovered from them. Further investigations are on.