Mice entered a dysfunctional ATM counter in an Upper Assam village and chewed away currency notes worth more than Rs 12 lakh, even as authorities took three weeks to notice that one-third of the money deposited in the machine had been shredded to bits.
A private security company had a month ago deposited Rs 29.48 lakh inside State Bank of India ATM in Laipuli of Tinsukia, 500 km northeast of the state capital of Guwahati. Media reports said the machine had gone out of service the next day—on May 20.
It was only on June 11, when technicians sought to repair the machine, that they noticed a portion of the currency notes lying around, torn to pieces. The notes were mostly of the denomination of 500 and 2,000, according to Economic Times.
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Global Business Solutions, a private security company deposited Rs. 29.48 lakh inside the ATM of the country’s largest bank, reports India Today.
Pictures of the shredded notes inside the ATM booth (run by FIS: Global Business Solutions) have gone viral on social media, with many sarcastically calling it ‘Demonetisation Part 2’. “We have been able to salvage about Rs 17 lakh (of the Rs 29.48 lakh deposited),” a bank official confirmed to a local news channel, says Indian Express.
“May 20 and June 11 is a significant period of time for an ATM to be out of service,” shrugged a local resident. “People are suspicious as to why it took so long for the mechanics to arrive.”
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The police have registered an FIR and begun investigation.
