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The City Police on Sunday evening shut down 1,037 automated teller machine (ATM) kiosks that did not comply with security measures announced by Home Minister K J George on November 21.

The police on Thursday released three-point security measures to be incorporated into each of the 2,580 ATMs in the City. The steps were appointing security guards 24x7, installing burglar alarms and CCTV cameras to capture visuals inside and outside the ATM kiosks. All these were to be completed by 4 pm on Sunday.

While banks balked at the idea of getting all this in place in three days, the police remained firm.

As the 4 pm deadline expired, a reality check revealed that most ATM kiosks were still unguarded. The crackdown began around 7 pm, with local police inspectors put in charge of shutting down all non-complying ATM kiosks in their jurisdiction. By late night, at least 1,037 ATM kiosks were shut down across the City.

Police Commissioner Raghavendra Auradkar told Deccan Herald that they had given banks a long rope and sufficient time to act. “We decided to act as most of them had not complied with the orders,” he said.

The police, who had identified the ATMs, had the bank officials lock them and served a notice on the officials. Where bank officials were not available, police themselves closed the kiosks and pasted notices.

The notice stated that in view of the non-compliance of the orders issued by the commissioner, all transactions had been prohibited until the security measures were implemented .

Kamal Pant, Additional Commissioner (Law & Order), said most ATM kiosks did not even have burglar alarms. Banks had posted guards at many booths.

“No ATM kiosk without a guard was spared. The police will in a phase-wise manner enforce the installation of burglar alarm across the city,” he said.

The south division topped the crackdown list with closure of 234 kiosks. While the north division closed down 160, the count in west was 142, east 191, southeast 165, north-east 65 and Central division had closed down 80 kiosks – arriving at a total figure of 1,037 kiosks being shut down by Sunday late night.

An official from Corporation Bank said they had ensured guards and CCTV cameras at all centres.

He held the police responsible for creating panic. He said a meeting of State-level bankers committee would be convened soon.

Ravindra Bhandari, general manager and in charge of ATMs , Canara Bank, said they had tried their best to follow the instructions of the government. “We have ensured that there are guards in all our 508 ATM kiosks and have also installed CCTV cameras in the kiosks,” he said. “In Canara Bank alone, over 1.5 lakh transactions happen each day contributing to over Rs 50 crore transaction. Shutting down the ATMs would definitely lead to a lot of inconvenience and panic among the customers,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jyothi Uday, the 44-year-old woman who was attacked in an ATM kiosk near the BBMP office, is said to be recovering. Dr N K Venkataramana, chief neurosurgeon and vice-chairman, BGS Global Hospitals, said physiotherapy sessions were on. “She is now able to sit,” he said.

ATM attacker brutally killed a woman in AP

He allegedly murdered her at her house in Dharmavaram after she gave him passwords to the two ATM cards he stole from her. He later withdrew money twice with the cards
 
The man who attacked Jyothi Uday with a machete in a city ATM kiosk on November 19 has reportedly murdered another woman brutally in Andhra Pradesh. Karnataka and AP police have launched a joint manhunt to nab him.

On November 10, the ATM attacker allegedly killed Prameelamma in Chandrababu Nagar in Dharmavaram and stole two ATM cards from her house. According to cops, he entered Prameelamma’s house and threatened to kill her with a lethal weapon unless she gave him passwords to the two ATM cards he stole from her. Both the ATM cards were in her son’s name. Once she gave him the passwords, he killed her inside the house and fled. He also stole Rs 3,500 cash from her.

The same night he went to Kadri. On November 11, he withdrew Rs 4,000 from a State Bank of India ATM kiosk in Kadri between 10.38 am and 10.40 am.

In the next couple of days, he came to Bangalore and withdrew Rs 18,000 cash with another ATM card.

Initially, Prameelamma’s son thought that the killer had stolen only cash. When he got two SMS alerts that money was being withdrawn from his cards, he got them blocked.

Subsequently, cops traced the ATM kiosk in Kadri where the killer had withdrawn money. CCTV footage of Kadri ATM shows the attacker wore the same clothes that he had dressed in and carried the same briefcase when he attacked Jyothi on November 19 at the Corporation Bank ATM at NR Circle.

A police official said, "There were two differences in his appearance at Kadri ATM and NR Circle ATM. One, at Kadri he was clean shaven but at NR Circle he wasn’t. At Kadri, his clothes were clean but at NR Circle, the same clothes had become dirty. We suspect he attacked Jyothi after he ran out of cash."

Police are searching for the attacker in Ananthapur, Kadri, Darmavaram, and Hindupur.

Cops suspect that the attacker was not using any mobile phone. The police official said, "We are sure he will have some friends. Once we find them it will be easy for us to ascertain details about him."