Kalaburagi, 9 April

Some unidentified miscreants made away with Rs 18 lakh in cash after allegedly breaking open an unguarded SBI ATM here using a gas cutter in the early hours of Wednesday, police said.

The incident occurred around 3am near Ramanagara within the city limits, they added.

According to the police, after entering the ATM kiosk, the miscreants allegedly sprayed black paint on the CCTV cameras in an attempt to conceal their identities. They then broke open one of the two ATMs using a gas cutter and fled with the cash. The other machine was left intact as it did not contain any money.

Citing a preliminary probe, a senior police officer said the ATM had been loaded with cash around 6pm on Tuesday.

Police said they are analyzing footage from CCTV cameras installed in the vicinity of the kiosk to reconstruct the sequence of events and identify the accused.

There was no security guard at the ATM kiosk at the time of the incident, they added.

A case has been registered, and further investigation is underway, police said.