Police crack ATM guard murder case

Alok Mishra

Patna:  With the arrest of one Shubham Kumar, Patna Police on December 14 claimed to have solved the gruesome killing of Kundan Kumar Makakar alias Pappu (40), an ATM guard of Central Bank of India, on Maurya Lok premises under Kotwali police station.

It may be mentioned here that the guard was found brutally murdered inside the cabin of ATM and the ATM machine was badly damaged located on the rear portion of ground floor of Patna Regional Passport office on Maurya Lok premises on December 10 morning by his elder son Aman Kumar. The incident had created much heat and Kotwali ps SHO Avinash Kumar was removed by senior police official the very same day as the murder had taken place very close to the local police station. Later, a special investigation team (SIT) was constituted led by SP (rural) comprising DSP (Law& Order), Kotwali ps SHO and members of Special technical Cell to solve the murder case.

Acting on the instruction of Patna Senior SP (SSP) Manu Maharaaj, the SIT started looking into the video footage of the CCTV cameras around the ATM as the criminals had damaged the machine and destroyed its DVR. The team somehow managed to get the picture of the criminal involved in the murder with the help of a DVR left inside the machine.

SSP said that after collecting the pictures of the suspects from different sources, the team was shocked to know that only one person was involved in the brutal murder of the guard. He said that the team members found that a single person had come from Patna Museum side and then returned after carrying out his operation. The SSP said that with the help of dog squad and the picture collected, the SIT recovered a sword with blood on it and a khanti (iron rod to dig) from an electric box close to Patna Museum. He said that the SIT also quizzed several persons close to the ATM and around guard’s house at Golghar Chouraha.

The SSP said that during investigation, the SIT came to know that some anti-social elements used to assemble near guard’s house and one of the picture recovered by the investigating team was found to be similar of a youth named Shubham Kumar. The SSP said that later SIT showed the picture to deceased’s family members and some of Shubham’s friends, who identified him. He said that SIT carried out raids and arrested Shubham near Eco Park and seized some smoking papers from his possession.

The SSP said that though Shubham first tried to mislead the SIT, he later admitted that he carried out the killing as he needed money desperately. He said that during interrogation, Shubham told the cops that he used to hover around guard’s house and came to know that he was physically weak. The SSP said that Shubham told the police that on December 9 night, he reached ATM covering himself with a quilt and found the guard sleeping inside the ATM. He said that Shubham told that he downed the shutter of the ATM first and then sprayed the gas from a fire-extinguisher kept in the ATM.

The SSP said that when he found the guard had woke up, he attacked him with the sword causing injuries to him on his nose. He said that Shubham again attacked the guard and he fell down. Shubhan tried to break the ATM but failed in his endeavor, the SSP said adding that he ran away from there taking the DVR and concealed the sword and khanti near Patna Museum.

The SSP said that Shubham told the police that he threw DVR in a drain at Mandiri and then left for Bihta with his friend. He said that acting on the revelations made by Shubham, a police team again visited the spots and recovered the quilt. The arrested youth is a resident of Golghar, Shiv Mandir Lane, under Buddha Colony police station, Patna, the SSP said adding that police also recovered a sword with blood stains on it, one iron khanti, one quilt and some smoking papers.