A pet dog prevented robbery in Axis Bank ATM

An alert pet dog prevented robbery in an ATM machine point in Jharkhand's Hazaribag district, news agency PTI reported. A gang of robbers reached the Axis Bank ATM, located on the ground floor of a house on GT Road in Chaithi village in Chouparan police station, with gas cutters, LPG cylinders and hammers to rob during the night.

The house, where the ATM is located, is owned by one Sudhir Barnwal. The robbers almost finished cutting open the machine, when Barnwal's pet dog Samba began barking, alerting his owner and the neighbours, the agency said citing police's statement.

As people woke up, the robbers left the damaged machine behind and fled, the cops said. A case has been filed and an investigation started into the incident, Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Nazir Akhtar said. The ATM had ₹27 lakh in it, he said.

Police said they suspect robbers were from outside the state involved in it.

Another similar incident happened in Gujarat in 2020 when an alert dog helped foil a burglary in Manjalpur, Vadodara. The police rushed to the spot and arrested a burglar.

A local resident said that their pet dog, Rocky made muffled noise and another person living in that area understood that something was wrong. The man said they looked out of the window and saw four burglars trying to break into the house.

The man and his son immediately informed the neighbours and hearing the commotion the burglars took off but the local residents followed.

The man said his dog Rocky has previously also alerted about the burglary.

According to the latest report by RBI, India has the third-largest number of ATMs deployed, it continues to fare poorly with regard to people served per ATM due to its sizeable population. A single ATM catering to over 5,800 people as of the end of 2020.

Besides, the cases of burglary, dacoity, robbery, and theft in ATMs have increased in the past few years. As per the RBI, in FY18 the cases of ATM robbery were 303, which increased to 515 in FY19. The amount involved was ₹11.22 crore and ₹25.47 crore, respectively.

(With PTI inputs)