Bangalore ATM attack: Even after 3 days, assailant still at large

Bangalore: Three days after after the horrific attack on a woman bank officer at an ATM in Bangalore, police have still not been able to nab the assailant, despite being filmed by CCTV cameras.

In a breakthrough, Bangalore City police on Thursday took one person from Andhra Pradesh’s Hindupur into custody for interrogation in connection with Tuesday’s brutal attack on a woman inside an ATM on JC Road. Police say the attacker may be hiding in Andhra Pradesh.

On Thursday, police also announced a Rs 1 lakh reward for information about the untraceable assailant who brutally attacked a woman in an unguarded ATM kiosk here on Tuesday.

“We will reward Rs 1 lakh to any person sharing information on the assailant absconding since Tuesday after assaulting bank manager Jyothi Uday in her bank’s ATM kiosk in the city centre,” Bangalore police Commissioner Raghavendra Auradkar told reporters.

Reports said the assailant had sold the victim’s mobile handset to a cell recharge shop at Hindupur in Ananthapur district of Andhra Pradesh, about 100 km north of Bangalore.

“We learnt from our counterparts in the neighbouring state that the mobile recharge shop owner bought the handset from a person whose identity he did not know. The buyer is being interrogated to ascertain the whereabouts of the attacker,” Auradkar said.

One of the eight special teams, set up to investigate the horrifying incident, is also on the lookout for another person who may have remained outside the state-run Corporation Bank ATM while the assailant was inside the kiosk attacking the victim.

“We are trying to find out if the unknown assailant had an accomplice standing outside the kiosk to ensure nobody entered it to draw cash from the ATM. As the machine was out of order for over a week, customers stopped entering it though it was repaired but no guard was present in the early hours (around 7am) of that day,” a police official told IANS.

Meanwhile, police has set a 24 November deadline for all banks to provide full security at their ATM kiosks across the city in wake of a brutal attack on a woman in an unguarded ATM Tuesday.

“We have set Nov 24, 4 p.m. as deadline for all state-run and private banks to deploy 24-hour security guards at their ATMs in the city, with functioning closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras inside and outside kiosks and a burglary alarm,” city Police Commissioner Raghavendra Auradkar told reporters here.

Asserting that the deadline was mandatory, Auradkar said no transaction would be allowed after Monday 4 p.m. from any ATM if the directive was not complied with any bank.

“If any ATM is found without the arrangements stipulated in the order under the police act, its kiosk will be shut and transactions stopped forthwith,” Auradkar said.

Auradkar said many banks have been setting up or opening ATM kiosks in private buildings or commercial complexes across the city, and had failed to inform police about the location of their ATMs with fool-proof security for the machine and customers.

“Our police force has noticed many ATMs mushrooming even in new residential layouts and city’s outskirts without enough security system in place. We brought this to the notice of the top officials of all banks and prevailed on them to enhance security at their ATMs after a series of crimes involving ATMs occurred over a year,” Auradkar recalled.

Meanwhile, 44-year-old Jyothi is recovering at a private hospital from the severe injuries she suffered on her head, face and nose when the assailant attacked her with a machete.

With inputs from IANS