Team Mangalorean

Bangalore: Seems like in this story, the driver of a private company which undertakes loading of money into ATM's, didn't needed his debit or credit card nor he had to remember his personal pin to withdraw money from the ATM - he got the money the easy way?

Chandrashekar, a employee with CMS agency, the company responsible for loading ATM's, who was driving the company vehicle has absconded with Rs 39 lakhs in cash which was supposed to be loaded into ATM 's, along with the company vehicle. The cash, which belonged to State Bank of India, was due to be deposited into several ATMs (Automated Teller Machines) at Yelahanka. The incident had taken place late Friday afternoon July 27, near Vidaranyapura in Gangammanagudi police limits. It is learnt that Chandrashekar regularly ferried cash for the CMS company in his four-wheeler.

According to police reports, Chandrashekar had called off sick on Friday, and had sent his vehicle with a driver, whose identity is still unknown, as his replacement. The driver and three agency employees — two cash custodians, Santosh Kumar and Gajendra and a gunman, Motaiah — loaded several ATMs before proceeding towards Yelahanka around 3 pm. Near Vidyaranyapura, the driver stopped the car. Four men approached the car and spoke to the driver, who told the agency staffers that the quartet were his friends. Soon, the strangers got into the car and overpowered the agency employees. Driving to Hoskote, the driver ordered the agency employees to get out of the vehicle. Then the five men drove off with the money.

It is also learnt that, although one of the staffers informed police of the theft immediately, neither the agency nor senior bank officals registered a complaint till late on Friday night. Although the name of the replacement driver is unknown, police suspect that the plan was an inside job.

In a similar accident,  that took place on May 14, 2012 armed men fled with a car carrying Rs 1.91 crore in cash , belonging to Corporation Bank which was destined for ATMs in RT Nagar. In that case too, the CMS company was in charge of transporting the cash.