A 40-year-old security guard is dead, and a cash refilling staff member was critically injured in a daylight broad daylight robbery near the deputy commissioner’s office complex in Bidar on Thursday. Four unknown gunmen fled with ₹93 lakh after assaulting the team that restocked an ATM, police stated.
The incident happened when a group of people from the CMS agency, which specialises in cash management services, were putting cash into an ATM located close to the SBI head office. The robbers, who were in a car with a registration number plate, attacked the team by using a workmanship plan, says Bidar Superintendent of Police (SP) Pradeep Gonti.
Initially, the robbers had hurled chilli powder at staff members so that they could not resist and later fired shots, killing security guard Giri Venkatesh. Another staff member who was injured is 33-year-old Shivakumar Rajshekhar; he is being treated, Gonti said.
Police believe that the gang had followed the cash van, waiting for the three-man team comprising an armed guard to come out of the vehicle to ascertain the position of the ATM cabin. The gunman—that former army man—had a loaded rifle and could do nothing as chilli powder was thrown into his eyes. A revolver-wielding robber shot Venkatesh at close range and shot him dead.
All the members of the gang wore masks in order to ensure they were not easily identified and escaped in a car with the cash quickly. According to SP Gonti, who led the team, work is being done to track the suspects through some cameras that were installed in the area.
“The police have deepened its search and are using all their efforts to arrest the gang behind this cruel act,” Gonti further said. That has raised concern about the safety of cash handling operations across the region.
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