Three persons were arrested for allegedly stealing Rs 23 lakh from the ATM of a public sector bank in Geeta Colony in East Delhi a fortnight ago,police said on Tuesday. Yunus Hasan,21,Mohammed Abbas,19 and Mohammed Zahid,20,all residing in Laxmi Nagar,had vandalised the ATM of Punjab National Bank on the intervening night of March 14-15,and stolen Rs 23,03,200 from the cash chest after cutting it open with a gas cutter, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (East),Prabhakar. Police have recovered Rs 8.71 lakh from Hasan,Rs 3.5 lakh from Zahid and Rs 7.2 lakh from Abbas. Apart from this,three mobile phones,three cars,one oxygen cylinder,one small LPG cylinder,pipe and nozzle used in the crime have been recovered from Zahid. Hasan,who is from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh,had escaped but was later arrested near Akshardham Temple. Zahid,a resident of Mewat in Haryana,is currently pursuing graduation from Zakir Hussain College. Hasan allegedly used to run a welding shop,and he could easily prepare master keys for all vehicles,police said. Hasan,Zahid and Abbas planned to steal money from the ATM,an easy target for them,considering Hasans experience as a fabricator. Consequently,all the three accused persons arranged a gas cutter and staged a heist at the ATM. This was made easy by the absence of the regular security guard and of CCTV surveillance, said Prabhakar.
