BIDAR: Two armed robbers fired at two security personnel transporting money from a bank into an ATM van and fled on a motorbike with a cash box containing Rs 87 lakh in the heart of Bidar city on Thursday morning.
One security guard died instantly of bullet wounds and the other is battling for life in a Hyderabad hospital.
Bidar superintendent of police Pradeep Gunti told TOI that the security guards had taken Rs 87 lakh from State Bank of India near Bidar DC office at Shivaji Circle and were set to take it in a van to be loaded into 10-12 ATMs in and around the city.
Saif Ali Khan Health Update
Neither the ATM van nor the bank had an armed gun on duty, sources said.
As the duo was carrying a steel cash box from the bank to the van – about 30-40 metres away – a man dressed in black and face covered with a black mask pulled out a gun and sprayed bullets on the duo around 10.30am. He picked up the cash box, ran to his accomplice, who was waiting on a motorbike parked right in front of the ATM van, and both sped away. Witnesses said the cash box was kept on the bike’s petrol tank.
One security guard, Giridhar Venkatesh, 30, from Chidri village near Bidar, took five bullets and collapsed to his death on the spot. His colleague, Shivakumar, 28, from Bidar city, is critical. He was shot in the chest thrice, police said, adding the attacker sprayed chilli powder into guards’ eyes before opening fire.
SBI ATM’s CCTV captured the sequence of events. The footage shows the cash box falling off the robber’s hands, and he immediately picks it up and slams it shut before getting on to the bike. Police are gathering information about the attackers from footage of CCTV from the area and mobile clips shot by shocked onlookers.
SP Gunti claimed they have definite leads about the identity of the perpetrators, how they recced the area for two days and where they stayed. “We’ll achieve a breakthrough in 24 hours,” he added.
Family members and relatives of the deceased Giridhar Venkatesh staged a protest at the hospital’s mortuary, seeking arrest of the attackers and suitable compensation to the family.
