Rajkot: In a cunning ATM-tampering operation, two men stole Rs 1.59 lakh in one day by jamming the cash dispenser of an ATM using a cardboard strip, at the SBI branch near Kanta Stri Vikas Gruh Chowk on Dhebar Road , in the jurisdiction of Bhaktinagar police station .




The branch manager, Alok Kayasth , registered an FIR for theft of govt or local authority property and acts done in furtherance of common intention against the two unidentified men.




According to the FIR, the offence was perpetrated on Friday, Oct 2, between 6.45am and 10.00pm. The suspects inserted a strip of grey cardboard into the shutter of the ATM’s cash dispenser. Unsuspecting bank customers initiated cash withdrawals, during which money was debited from their accounts and cash was dispatched to the tray, but remained trapped behind the jammed shutter. Believing the machine had malfunctioned or failed to dispense cash, the customers walked away.




CCTV footage showed that the two men monitored the booth and went in and out 22 times throughout the day. Every time a customer left empty-handed, the men stepped in, removed the cardboard strip, collected the trapped currency notes, replaced the trap, and exited.




The thefts came to light the next morning, on Oct 3, when an IDFC First Bank customer named Archan Joshi visited the branch. Joshi reported that he had tried to withdraw Rs 9,000 from the ATM the previous morning. Although his account was debited, the cash never emerged.




While the service manager, Dinesh Jaypal, was processing Joshi’s claim form, the branch received an alert from the SBI regional business office noting a slew of similar withdrawal complaints. Branch officials dispatched a field officer, Sagar Gajera, and a clerk, Nirav Bhatt, to inspect the ATM. They found the machine displaying a “Take Your ATM Card” prompt and discovered the grey cardboard strip inside the dispenser.




Subsequent verification of internal logs revealed that 22 separate transactions had triggered “Cash Not Taken” error reports on Oct 2, for a total of Rs 1,58,900. The stolen sums ranged from Rs 100 to Rs 20,000 per victim.