Bhubaneswar, November 13: Commissionerate Police on Tuesday arrested two drivers of an ATM cash refilling agency on charges of stealing Rs 40 lakh.

The accused persons were identified as Ratikanta Rout alias Sada (44) of Bhadrak’s Dhusuri and Ajit Kumar Sen alias Milu (28) of Khurda’s Bolgarh.

Police said both Ratikanta and Ajit were arrested from Bhubaneswar’s Samantpur under Chandrasekharpur PS and Acharya Vihar under Saheed Nagar PS respectively.

According to police, the duo was employees of Radiant Cash Management Services Ltd in Bhubaneswar, which is engaged for filling cash in different ATMs in the city.

As per investigation, on November 5, the custodians of the agency collected cash of Rs 2.58 crore from SBI Main Branch in Unit-1 and loaded cash in different ATMs, But while they were headed to SUM Hospital ATM, the custodians Gobinda Behera and G Shiba Dora noticed a shortage of Rs 40 lakhs.

Following this, the branch manager of Radiant Agency filed a written complaint with Capital Police and a case 469/18 under Section 407 of the IPC was registered in this regard.

The police found that the custodians collected cash of 2.58 crores from SBI and went to fill the ATMs. On the way, they noticed that there is a shortage of 8 bundles of Rs 500 notes amounting to 40 Iakh. As the custodians were having the keys so it was highly improbable that they will steal the money. So the role of the Gunman and the driver was verified by the police.

On further investigation, it was ascertained that while loading the cash in ATMs, near World of Titan in Ashok Nagar, all two custodians and the gunman usually go to the ATM and the driver is left alone in the vehicle. Then it was found that that the driver, taking the opportunity of the absence of the custodian, took the second key which remains in the vehicle and prepared a duplicate one.

Later, he conspired with Ajit Kumar Sen, who happens to be his foster son-in-law and was a temporary driver of the same cash management agency. The duo was acquainted with the routes and well aware that there are three ATMs at Ashok Nagar which will take time to load cash- a perfect time to steal the money with being noticed.

Taking advantage of the situation, the accused driver Ratikanta stole eight bundles of cash amounting to 40 lakh with the help of Ajit, and the latter made away with the cash bag, the police investigation further revealed.

After the accused were arrested and Rs 37.69 lakh out of Rs 40 lakh stolen money was seized from them. Besides, duplicate leys of the lock of the vehicle and the cash box, the cash carrier vehicle and three mobile phones were seized from them.

Police said the accused persons have been booked under Sections 407, 379 and 34 of IPC and efforts are on to recover the rest of the stolen amount.