A man who had lost his job as a medical representative during the Covid-induced lockdown was arrested early on Friday for allegedly trying to break into ATMs in Salt Lake, police said.
Palash Poddar, 41, a resident of Satgachi in northeast Kolkata, had allegedly targeted at least a couple of ATM kiosks, one in CD Block and the other in BB Block, in the past few days and tried to steal cash, a senior officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said.
“He was arrested when a police patrol team spotted him moving suspiciously near an ATM kiosk near the Punjab National Bank island,” the officer said.
According to the officer, Poddar used to move around on a motorcycle and target ATMs that did not have any guards. He would first spray black paint from a can on the CCTV cameras in an ATM kiosk. Then he would allegedly use a machine to cut the front portion of the cash dispenser and tie it with a chain to the back of a motorcycle.
“He would then rev up the bike’s engine and try to yank off the front of the ATM,” the officer said. “His technique, however, failed on both occasions. He told us he had lost his job during the Covid-induced lockdown and has since failed to get any other job. So he took to crime and decided to steal cash from ATMs,” the officer said.
The cops were first alerted by the manager of a nationalised bank in CD Block. The ATM kiosk adjacent to the bank had been damaged and the camera inside blackened by paint.
The manager of the bank lodged a complaint with Bidhannagar North police station on August 1. Later, a similar alert was received from a bank in BB Block.
“The cameras inside both ATMs had been rendered almost useless by paint. We scanned footage from cameras installed on the banks and on surrounding buildings,” the officer said.
Another officer said: “CCTV footage shows a motorcyclist wearing a helmet enter the ATM kiosks and stay inside for some time before attaching a chain to his bike and then trying to ride it.... A few attempts later, he would detach the chain and ride away at high speed.”
In order to prevent any further attempts, the Bidhannagar commissionerate posted radio flying squad cars near ATMs that were closest to the two Poddar had targeted.
“Early on Friday, we found a biker with a build similar to the man seen on the footage moving around suspiciously. We tried to stop him but when he saw our vehicle, he tried to flee. We chased and caught him,” the officer said.