Delhi : Three armed assailants robbed Rs 35 lakh at gunpoint when a cash replenishment team entered an automated teller machine (ATM) kiosk to load it at north-east Delhi’s Mansarovar Park on Friday morning.

They forcibly entered the ATM kiosk of Union Bank of India at around 11:20 am when the cash replenishment team, carrying cash from the van, walked in to load the machine.

Brandishing country-made pistols, they looted the cash box and fled in a getaway vehicle.

The ATM kiosk was located in the house of one S N Gupta.

Four people from the cash van, including the driver, guard and two staff, had gone to the spot to load the cash. The driver and guard remained in the car, and the others entered the ATM kiosk to replenish cash.

The moment they entered, one of the robbers went to the cash van and hit the driver twice with the butt of his gun. He then hit the guard too, and snatched away his rifle.
The other assailants entered the kiosk, brandished their pistols and emptied the cash box, making off in a car in which their associate was waiting.

“They were prepared and had parked their Wagon-R car near the cash van. They came out running and fled from the spot with the money,” said RK Sharma, an eyewitness.

The police identified the four cash-van employees as Jitendra, the driver; Sahib Singh, the security guard; and two bank employees — Akash and Prem Singh.

“The accused did not cover their faces. The CCTV camera inside the kiosk was not working when they entered it and bagged the cash,” said a senior police officer. This indicates that the robbers were well aware of the non-functional CCTV camera.

“We are checking the movements of the security guard at the ATM and his accomplices, as he was not at the spot when the incident took place. It seems that robber knew everything about the ATM kiosk, like the CCTV camera, timing of the cash van, and the missing security guard,” said the officer.

He added that police have registered a case of robbery at the Mansarovar Park police station and have deployed teams to nab the culprits.