Man robbed in ATM booth

PK Jaiswar
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, July 12

Two youths robbed a BSNL employee of Rs 7,500 in an ATM booth in Ranjit Avenue area here on Thursday.

The victim, identified as Jagmohan Singh, had just withdrawn cash from the ATM of Oriental Bank of Commerce, located at the old jail road, when the robbers targeted him. The police have procured CCTV grabs of the suspects and further investigation is under way. A case under Section 379- B (2) of the IPC has been registered in this connection.

Complainant Jagmohan Singh said when he entered the ATM cabin to withdraw cash, a youth was already standing inside the ATM cabin. The victim was collecting the receipt when the youth called his accomplice inside the ATM. They caught hold of him and put a ‘parna’ (a piece of cloth used as headgear) around his neck. Besides snatching Rs 7,500, they also took away his mobile and purse containing some documents.

Investigating officer Gurdial Singh said a police team took the CCTV footage and circulated the same to other police stations for their identification. He said the accused would be arrested soon.

Similar incidents

This is not the lone incident. On July 3, two unknown youths had snatched a woman’s purse from inside an ATM cabin in Basant Avenue. Her husband Nikhil Mahajan had informed the police that the victim withdrew Rs 11,000 from an ATM of Punjab National Bank (PNB) when robbers turned up and snatched her purse containing a total of Rs 12,000.

In a similar attempt, the rural police had nabbed a robber who tried to loot two women inside an ATM booth of Corporation Bank in Jandiala when they were withdrawing cash. He was later identified as Rahul Arora of Patel Nagar locality.

Robinpreet Kaur, along with her friend, had come to Jandiala Guru for shopping for a marriage function. She entered the ATM booth for cash withdrawal when an armed youth with covered face turned up. The bank authorities watching the incident on CCTV camera informed the security guard who locked the booth from outside and lowered the shutter.

Sensing that he was trapped, he desperately tried to open the glass door. Failing, he broke it and fled away. He was later arrested by the police.