B'lore ATM attack: 48 hours on, no sign of unmasked assailant

Two days 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.

Eight police teams are hunting for him in neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

Meanwhile, Time Now reports that the victim’s phone has been traced to Andhra Pradesh.

“We have formed special teams to crack the case and alerted districts across the state to look out for the accused. We have shared closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage with district police,” Bangalore Police Commissioner Raghavendra Auradakar told reporters.

“We are confident of nabbing the assailant soon from clues obtained from the footage and a statement recorded from the victim (Jyothi Udaykumar), with great difficulty, as she is weak due to heavy loss of blood, and in a state of shock,” Auradkar said.

44-year-old Jyothi Uday is still critical. Her skull was fractured, most of her nose chopped off, and the right side of her body is paralysed.

“She will take six months to recover, " a doctor attending to her said Wednesday.

“Jyothi’s body is paralysed on the right side because of the injury to her brain, and she has partially lost sensory perception after the blood clot in the head. Full recovery will take four to six months, as the clot has to melt from the affected area,” BGS Hospital chief neurosurgeon Venkataramana said.

Jyothi, a manager in the bank’s Mission Road branch, was found unconscious in the blood-stained kiosk nearly three hours after the assailant disappeared with her cash (Rs.2,500) and mobile handset.

No security guard was present at the kiosk when the horrifying incident took place, which sent shock waves across the city after the police released the CCTV footage to news channels late Tuesday for information or tip-offs about the assailant from the public.

Police registered a case under Section 397 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which relates to attempting to cause death or grievous injury while committing robbery or dacoity.

Video footage obtained from the bank shows the unmasked assailant entering the kiosk when Jyothi was in front of the ATM to draw cash, and threatening her after downing the shutter from inside.

“As seen in the footage, the assailant took out a country pistol and a machete from a shoulder bag and asked Jyothi to draw cash from the ATM. When she tried to escape, he pushed her in a corner and hit her on the head and face with a machete. After checking her bag, he left the kiosk by again pulling down its shutter from outside,” city deputy commissioner of police (DCP) DC Rajappa told reporters.

The bank’s ATM kiosk is located on the ground floor of the Life Insurance Corporation building, diagonally opposite the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) head office in the Corporation Circle and a furlong from the Ulsoor Gate police station.

With inputs from agencies