PUNE: A few persons on Saturday afternoon broke open the cash dispenser of an ATM machine of a nationalized bank using a gas cutter and decamped with Rs21.65 lakh on crowded Rahatni Road, exposing security loopholes at such facilities in the city.The theft came to light after the State Bank of India-appointed contractor’s employees went to the kiosk to refill the machine around 6pm, almost three hours after the theft around 3pm. The Wakad police launched investigations after receiving information of the theft from the Pimpri Chinchwad police commissionerate’s control room. There are 56 banks and around 200 ATMs under the Wakad police. Deputy commissioner of police Namrata Patil, who inspected the ATM, told TOI, “We prima facie suspect two men walked into the ATM and downed the shutter to prevent customers from coming inside. They used a gas cutter to cut the machine and stole cash. They fled pulling the down the ATM shutter again.”Senior inspector Satish Mane, the Wakad police station in-charge, said, “Investigations revealed that the burglars covered a CCTV camera inside the kiosk and stole cash after conducting a recce. There is no CCTV camera outside the ATM kiosk.”Assistant commissioner of police (Wakad division) Shridhar Jadhav said, “We suspect the burglars may have taken 15-20 minutes to cut the machine using a gas cutter. The cash refilling staffers, after calculations, concluded that Rs21.65 lakh was stolen.”An FIR has been registered under Section 380 (theft) of IPC. The bank officials refused to make a statement when TOI contacted them over phone.

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