Pandeshwar: A robber who attacked the corporation bank ATM which had been shifted from Sastan to Pandeshwar nearby, found that he could not lay hands on the cash inside the machine. He broke the tube light and glass doors and damaged the kiosk with an iron rod at midnight on Monday, and threw the rod in a bush on the road side, where it was found by the local police who rushed to the spot on being informed by an account holder, Arun Louis, who told the police duly.
Arun was shocked to find the ATM box damaged and glasses broken. the police found that the thief had not stolen the cash. A bank official came on Tuesday morning and checked the kiosk to estimate the loss but the cash box had not been opened, while the shutter at night had been open to a height by the robber.
The police from Udupi and Brahmavar came upon the scene and inspected the kiosk to realize that the robber in his disappointment of not getting the cash at midnight after raising the shutter and going in, had broken the kiosk but not the cash box. The robber ran away.
It is high time for the corporation bank authorities in Pandeshwar at Mangalore HO to realize that there ATMs in rural areas like Kota and Sastan or Pandeshwar nearby, needed to be guarded by armed security personnel, if rural banking has to be successful without theft or damage to rural ATM kiosks.