8216;Post ATM guards or face closure8217;

Karnataka police issue strict warning to banks,give three-day deadline

A day after a woman was brutally attacked inside a Corporation Bank ATM at NR Square in Bangalore,the Karnataka government told banks to post security guards at all ATMs in the state capital within three days,failing which the police would shut down the facilities.

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting of senior police officers,including commissioner Raghavendra H Auradkar,called by Home Minister K J George following the attack.

On Tuesday,the victim was attacked with a machete,robbed and left unconscious and bleeding for nearly three hours inside the ATM kiosk as the assailant pulled the shutters down before fleeing.

The meeting at Vidhana Soudha discussed security at ATMs. The home minister said only 1,900 of the more than 2,500 ATMs in Bangalore had security guards. He said the remaining 600 or so ATMs were unguarded.

George said banks had to quickly secure all ATMs by deploying armed guards and installing CCTV cameras. Failure to do so would result in closure of the facilities by police,he warned.

The home minister said the state government would soon frame guidelines for safety at ATMs. A committee would be formed under the leadership of home secretary S K Pattanayak for the purpose,he said.

The committee will discuss ATM security measures with banks to prevent robberies and submit a report after the completion of the forthcoming winter session of the state legislature. The home minister said appropriate guidelines would be issued to banks to ensure safety of customers.

Temporarily paralysed but recovering

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The Bangalore police have started a hunt for the man who brutally attacked a woman at a Corporation Bank ATM on Tuesday morning. Police Commissioner Raghavendra H Auradkar said eight teams had been formed to arrest the accused. Auradkar,who visited the BGS hospital where the victim,Jyothi Uday,is undergoing treatment on Wednesday,said the 44-year-old,who was hit several times on her head with a machete,was recovering fast.

N K Venkataramana,vice-chairman of the hospital,said the attack broke Jyothis skull and a piece of bone pierced her brain. He said the bone was removed surgically and a plastic surgery was performed on her nose.She is stable, he said. She has suffered temporary paralysis from which she will recover,he added.

Auradkar said the police had registered 32 crimes that took place in ATMs in the city this year and solved 28 of the cases.

Meanwhile,Jyothi told the police the attacker spoke to her in Kannada. CCTV footage from the ATM has been shared with all police stations in the state. Police have also collected footage from a traffic camera at NR Square and finger prints of the attacker and other evidence from the crime scene.

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Sources said the victims family denied personal rivalry with anyone.