Pune: In a robbery attempt, unidentified thieves accidentally burnt down Rs 13.67 lakh of an ATM Centre while trying to break open the ATM machine with a gas cutter. The incident occurred during the wee hours of Sunday inside a State Bank of India ATM centre at Sambhaji Nagar in Chinchwad.

The unidentified accused entered the ATM centre around 4 am in order to steal the money. In order to break open the machine, the accused persons used the gas cutter and accidentally burnt down currency notes worth Rs 13.67 lakh. They also damaged the ATM machine worth Rs 4.5 lakh.

Prakash More, Police Sub-Inspector, Nigdi police station, said, “An amount of Rs 22.67 lakh was inside the ATM. In their attempt to cut the machine using a gas cutter, around 2,105 notes worth Rs 10.67 lakh turned into ashes whereas notes worth Rs 3 lakh were half burnt. However, the remaining amount of Rs 8 lakh was intact.”

“We don’t know how many thieves entered the ATM centre as the CCTV was also damaged due to the flames. But we have requested the bank to avail the backup of footages available with them,” added Mane.