5 men accused in ATM cash theft cases arrested

Five men, allegedly involved in over 50 cases of ATM cash theft and cheating in the city, have been arrested by Delhi police.

Police were on the lookout for them ever since Rs 10,000 was stolen recently from a woman's account right after she had used an ATM facility.

The five -- Kamal Upadhyay (30), Arun Kumar (23), Sanjay (23), Abbas Khan alias Rakesh Solanki (29) and Sandeep Dedha (24) -- were arrested from near Millennium Park on the Outer Ring Road here on February 27.

Police also recovered three cars and eight fake/dummy ATM cards from the five who were caught after a trap was laid for them based on a tip-off received by the crime branch, which was probing the matter.
 

During interrogation, they confessed to their involvement in 50 cases of which 14 have been linked to them, a senior police officer said.

Their interrogation also revealed their modus operandi, which was to target ladies as well as elderly and illiterate people.

"They strike in a group where two of them would enter the ATM booth. They would offer help to the gullible card holder in facilitating his transactions and would convince him to leave while his account is still logged-in for making further transactions.

"Then, they would withdraw money from his account. They would also procure the PIN of the card holder and exchange his ATM/debit card with the dummy card possessed by them," the officer said.