Balasore, Oct. 1: Police have detained three persons of a cash management firm today in an ATM theft case.

The Balgopalpur branch manager of the State Bank Of India had lodged an FIR with the police alleging that the amount was stolen from the ATM counter on Saturday. “The ATM was intact and was not broken at any place. But the cash chamber was open. The chamber can only be opened with a password. Only those who load cash at the ATM have access to the password. The police zeroed in on the employees of the private company that loads cash in ATMs,” said sub-divisional police officer Siba Prasad Mallick.

“We have detained three persons and are interrogating them. We will nab the culprits and crack the case very soon,” he said.

“Cash management of the ATM is taken care of by a private company. We detained two persons of the company, who are deployed for Remuna zone. Later, we detained a third person. The franchise owner, who is away from district, is also not above suspicion. We suspect some lapses on his part,” said Manoranjan Biswal, inspector in charge of Remuna police station.