Four of ATM theft gang held; Rs 8 lakh cash seized in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: The LB Nagar Police on Thursday nabbed four burglars while they were moving in suspicious circumstances in an unregistered auto. Police recovered net cash of Rs 8 lakh and seized an auto from the possession of the accused, all worth Rs 12 lakh.

The accused were identified as Saber Khan (39), Arshad Khan (20), Ajrudeen (25) and Talim (20), while other accused Sajeed (25) is still at large.

According to Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh M Bhagwat, Saber Khan, a native of Haryana State came to Hyderabad about 17 years ago in search of a job and settled here by plying an auto. The other accused also belonged to Haryana State.

Saber Khan was previously involved in a cheating case at ATM centre, wherein he had withdrawn an amount of Rs 20,000 from the ATM by cheating an old person and was arrested and is facing court trial.

Saber Khan hatched a plan to commit theft of cash from ATMs with the assistance of other accused persons by using gas cutters.

Accordingly, he invited them to Hyderabad with an intention of committing ATM offences. As per their plan, accused persons on the intervening night of Wednesday gained entry into the ATM centre at Mansoorabad and broke the ATM with gas cutter and committed theft of net cash of Rs 12.07 lakh and fled away with the stolen booty by leaving the gas cutter at the ATM centre.

The ATM was partially burnt and some of the cash around Rs 7,000 was also burnt. The remaining Rs 2.96 lakh was found in the ATM machine and it was seized at the scene of crime.

On Thursday, police nabbed four accused persons and recovered net cash of Rs 8 lakh and an unregistered auto. The remaining cash of around Rs 4 lakh is said to be with Sajeed, who is absconding.