ATM guard murdered near police station at Patna

Alok Mishra

Patna : Throwing an open challenge to the Patna Police when it has geared itself up for Prakashotasav, unidentified criminals brutally murdered a private security guard of an ATM of Central Bank of India, Kundan Kumar Malakar alias Pappu (40) inside the ATM, located on the rear portion of ground floor of Patna Regional Passport office on Maurya Lok premises under Kotwali police station, in the wee hours on December 10. The ATM faces Buddha Marg and is hardly 200 metres away from Kotwali police station. urn

Kotwali police station SHO Avinash has been removed after the incident. Taking strong exception to the gruesome murder of a bank guard close to the police station, Senior SP (SSP) Manu Maharaaj said that slackness in patrolling, law & order and crime related incidents will not be tolerated. He said that Inspector Ramashanker has been posted as new SHO, Kotwali police station.

The guard with his throat slit open with a sharpedged weapon and wound marks on his shoulder was found in a pool of blood inside the ATM by his eldest son Aman Kumar at around 6 am on Saturday morning. There was blood all over inside the ATM. The deceased’s wife Babita Devi, who was wailing outside Kotwali police station with the body, said that she was preparing her husband’s breakfast when her son Aman Kumar rang her and informed her that his father had been murdered brutally. She said that her husband’s head had been hit by some hard substance and a white powder was thrown on his body by the killers. There are also wound marks on his nose, she added.

Babita said that her husband’s body was closed inside the cabin of the ATM by the assailants and her son had to drag out the body from there. She said that her husband would have completed two years as a guard in the ATM in January, 2017. She said that earlier he was working in a local hotel and had broken his two legs during his tenure there. “ A day before he had  purchased medicines for himself,” she said adding that she has two sons: Aman Kumar and Prem Kumar, and a daughter Sneha Kumari alias Shruti Kumari. It seems that the killers had taken away her husband’s cellphone and that is is the reason why the family members could not contact him on Saturday morning, she added.

Some of the locals said that the security guard was a resident of Golghar Chouraha near Patna Policelines. They said that generally, Kundan’s dinner was sent to ATM by his family members daily in the evening and he used to return to his house at around 5 am in urnthe morning daily. The locals said that when Kundan failed to reach his house on Saturday morning, his family members rang him on his cellphone. “ When there was no response from Kundan’s side, his eldest son Aman Kumar reached the ATM and found its shutter half closed,” the locals said adding that when the son opened the shutter of the ATM, he found his father brutally murdered. Then said that Kundan was seen till 2 am.

As the news of murder reached Golghar locality, a large number of people blocked the main road at Kotwali T Crossing with the body  disrupting the vehicular movement on one flank of the road at around 6.15 am. The anger on their faces was palpable as some of them said that the Patna Police is on high alert due to Prakashotsav. Some of them said that a guard of an ATM was murdered close to the police station yet the cops had no inkling about it. Some of the locals said that there is no proper lighting arrangement near the ATM and it seems that taking advantage of the situation, the criminals murdered the guard. They also criticized the security company with which Kundan was employed. “See neither the officials of Central Bank of India nor of the security agency met the deceased’s family members,” said a local. There are lots of shops close to the ATM and also on the opposite side of the road.

On getting information, SP (Rural) and in-charge City SP (Central) reached there. He said that senior police officers are monitoring the case. A large number of policemen were also deployed close to Kotwali police station to control the situation. The blockade was lifted at around 11 am.

Later, a team of experts from Forensic Science Laboratory reached the ATM and collected samples from there. There was blood scattered  inside and outside the ATM. The experts found a plastic bag containing the personal belongings of the deceased including his woolen cap, muffler and his voter identity card. The ATM machine was completely damaged by the criminals and glasspane of ATM was also scattered inside there. An SI rank officer present outside the ATM said that the criminals had slit open the throat of the guard. He said that the criminals could not loot cash from the ATM as confirmed by some of the bank officials, who later reached there.