Maharashtra: Two held for bid to steal cash from ATM in Palghar

The incident occurred in the early hours of 14 July at the ATM of a nationalised bank in the Virar area. Representational Pic

Police have arrested two individuals for allegedly attempting to break into a bank's ATM in Maharashtra's Palghar district, officials announced on Sunday.

The incident occurred in the early hours of 14 July at the ATM of a nationalised bank in the Virar area, but no money was stolen, they confirmed, according to news agency PTI.

Some unidentified persons broke into the ATM and tried to smash the machine to steal cash, but failed and left, a police statement said. After the damage to the ATM and the cash dispensing machine, the bank officials filed a complaint with the local police.

A police probe team worked on various leads, checked the CCTV footage, and based on the technical and intelligence inputs, zeroed in on the accused, identified as Ajay Vijay Yadav (45) from Virar and Bharat Gajanan Sanke (37) from Ulhasnagar in neighbouring Thane district, the release said, reported news agency PTI.

They were apprehended on July 17, the police said.

Following the arrest, the police recovered various tools used in the attempted theft, including a grinder machine, gas blow torch, grinder cutter blade, hand gloves, mask, bag and raincoat, it said.

The Bolinj police registered an FIR on July 18 against the accused under sections 305 (theft in a dwelling house or means of transportation or place of worship), 62 (punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment), and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the release said, as per PTI.

Kidnapping, robbery accused in Palghar held after three months

In another similar case, Police arrested a man wanted for kidnapping and robbing a person of his gold jewellery and car three months ago in Maharashtra's Palghar district, an official said on Sunday.

The incident occurred near Uplat-Kalbatpada on 20 April when the 38-year-old victim from Wada was travelling in the car. As he briefly halted his vehicle, three unidentified assailants on a motorcycle intercepted him, forcibly entered his car, and abducted him, according to senior inspector Ajay Gorad of Talasari police station, according to PTI.

"The victim was pushed into his own car, robbed of his gold chain, ring and cash, and later dumped near the Kalyan bypass in Bhiwandi. The assailants fled the scene with his car after committing the crime," he said, reported PTI

An FIR was registered on April 22 under sections 309(4) (robbery) and 140(3) (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder or for ransom, etc) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita based on the victim's complaint.

On May 5, the police arrested one of the accused, Vishal Dattatreya Tandale (29), from Ambegaon in Pune.

"We recovered the stolen property from him, which included the victim's gold ornaments and car, collectively valued at Rs 5,05,360," Gorad said, reported PTI.

Acting on a tip-off, the police traced and arrested another accused, Sameer Mahadev Jadhav, also from Ambegaon in Pune, on Friday, he said.

During interrogation, it came to light that Jadhav was previously involved in at least 10 crimes, including murder, attempt to murder, armed robbery, causing grievous injuries and illegal possession of arms, the official said.

Search was still on for the third accused, he added, reported PTI.

(With PTI inputs)