Criminals can get Rs 10-15 lakh by breaking open an ATM.
Incidents of ATM thefts, robberies or burglaries being reported from states like West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have become frequent and these incidents are causing a huge loss of hundreds of crores to the banks. This information was provided by the Ministry of Finance to the Lok Sabha in August this year.
Bihar has reported over 330 incidents of ATM thefts since 2015 and the number of incidents of ATM thefts and robbery in Bihar has increased since 2016. The number of incidents of ATM thefts reported in Bihar between 2016 and 2017 stood at more than 120 cases in each year, causing a loss of about Rs 10 crore to the banks, while Uttar Pradesh has reported some 292 incidents of ATM thefts from the state, causing a loss of Rs 14 crore to the banks.
West Bengal is not far behind, with over 290 incidents of ATM thefts being reported from the state during the same period, causing the banks to lose to the tune of Rs seven crore.
Cases of ATM thefts in Bengal were also on the rise during 2016 -17 and 105 such incidents were reported from the state each year in 2016-17.
In Jammu and Kashmir, most of the reports were about terrorists looting ATMs. Post demonetisation, more than 70 incidents of ATM thefts were reported from the state in 2016 and 2017.
National capital Delhi has also reported more than 130 cases of ATM thefts in the period 2015-June 2018, in which more than Rs 10 crore were looted from ATMs in different parts of the city. Police officials have said that the increase in the number of ATM thefts from different states shows the dismal law and order situation in the states.
A senior police official from the Delhi police said, “Incidents of ATM thefts have increased even in Delhi. We are taking measures like increasing night patrolling in areas and putting in place the prahari (guard) system for better vigilance.”
“The increasing number of such incidents from states shows that there is some problem with the law and order situation in the states. ATM thefts are done by criminals for easy money; they know that once they break open an ATM, they can get some Rs 10-15 lakh at one go,” the police official said.
A total of 3,167 incidents of robbery, thefts or burglary have been reported from several ATMs across different states in India causing a total loss of more than Rs 168 crore to different banks in India.
However, most of the North Eastern states have reported the lowest number of incidents of ATM thefts during2015-June 2018. States like Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland have not seen a single case of ATM theft in the region, while states like Goa, Telangana, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh have also seen a very few such incidents.