Bangalore: An HDFC Bank ATM was carted away from a bank at Anekal in Bangalore Rural on Tuesday. The partially burnt machine was found on Wednesday beside a lake in Naganayakanahalli, 15 km away from where it had been stolen, reports DNA.
Police said it was left in the bushes near the Chikka Nagamangala Lake in Parappana Agrahara police station limits.
Unidentified persons drove away with the ATM around 1.30 am on Tuesday, without disturbing two security guards sleeping in the adjacent hall of the HDFC Bank.
The Anekal police said the burglars had abandoned the ATM before daybreak on Tuesday itself, apparently after their failure to break it open.
Though several people had seen the machine on the wall, no one recognised it as an ATM. Police said street vendors informed them of the ATM on Wednesday, after they had taken a close look at "box".
Fingerprint experts and dog squad inspected the machine, before it was shifted to Anekal police station for further investigation.
Anekal police sub-inspector Chetan Kumar said fingerprints of two suspects have been found. He said the burglars managed to take some cash through the dispenser. "We are still unsure how much money had been taken away," the sub-inspector added.
A senior police officer, however, said the cash compartment of the ATM was found intact. He added that exact amount stolen from the machine would be known on Thursday.
The bank's technicians checked the machine around 7 pm, but were unable to open the ATM. The loss of money could be ascertained only after the machine was opened on Thursday.
The bank officials had, on Saturday noon, loaded Rs16 lakh into the teller machine. Police were suspecting that the burglars had taken the ATM in a mini-van. The machine weighed more than 400 kg.
Investigators said the burglars might have abandoned the machine after their repeated attempts to open the ATM before daybreak had failed.
