Wednesday, 14 June 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Dehradun police arrested an accused named Sonu alias Kamal Gupta (39) who used to allegedly swap ATM cards with senior citizens on the pretext of helping them by posing as a guard of ATM booths. The police recovered a total of 40 ATM cards from his possession, said the superintendent of police (crime) Sarvesh Panwar. He said that the police received a complaint from a citizen on May 2 that a man who pretended to be a guard of an ATM booth in the Clock Tower area on April 30 allegedly swapped his ATM card on the pretext of helping him and withdrew Rs 36,000 in two days.
The police received a similar complaint on June 10 from a Rudraprayag resident in which, the accused had withdrawn Rs 65,000 after swapping ATM with the victim. The SP said that the police checked the footage of 100 CCTV cameras installed in the area and received a photo of a suspect and his scooty number. The police started searching for him and finally nabbed him from the Patelnagar area on Monday along with the scooty, 40 ATM cards and Rs 50,000 cash. Panwar said that the accused Sonu revealed during the investigation that he has stolen the scooty from a parking space in Roorkee.
According to the SP, he pretended to be a guard outside an ATM if he found no guard there and got the ATM pin code from senior citizens on the pretext of helping them. He allegedly used to choose days of public holidays when most of the guards are not present, said Panwar. The police will also talk to banks as it is the responsibility of respective banks to appoint a security guard outside ATM booths, the SP added.
