HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court upheld the decision of the police in invoking the PD Act (Prevention of Detention) against an ATM and CCTV technician and his associate, who looted Rs 40 lakh by opening three ATM machines using electronic chips.
A division bench, comprising Justice K. Lakshman and Justice P. Sree Sudha, did not accept the contentions of the detenues, who contended that invoking of PD Act against them was invalid as they had not disturbed public order. The court also rejected arguments of their counsel, who said that PD Act cannot be invoked for their offences.
The state police had invoked the PD Act against Bhupender Singh and Harpinder Singh from Punjab and looted three ATM machines. Bhupender worked as an ATM technician in Punjab for almost 15 years and was aware of the nitty-gritty of ATM machines. His modus operandi in Telangana, after associating with Harpinder was to place a chip at the bottom of ATM machine’s amount loading door and connect it to his mobile which could capture the video. On seeing the loading on the video they would get down to the ATM and make away with the booty.
They have committed theft of an amount of Rs 30,01,500 at Kandhi village in Sangareddy district; RS 3,42,500 at Chityal and Rs 7,82,300 at the ATM centre in Rajapur, Mahabubnagar district. Police detained them and invoked PD Act, which was approved by the district magistrate. They challenged the same in the High Court.
Rejecting their contentions, the High Court said that it was the degree of disturbance and its effect upon the life of the community in a locality, which determines whether the disturbance amounts only to a breach of law and order.
