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In another stringent step in the light of a recent brutal attack on a woman bank official at an unguarded ATM kiosk here, Police today set a 45-day deadline to banks to install CCTV camera and alarm systems at ATMs.
The move comes close on the heels of over 1,000 unmanned ATM kiosks here being shut down after the November 19 savage attack caught on CCTV footage sparked a national outrage. "CCTV cameras and alarm systems should be installed at ATMs of all the banks in the city within 45 days," Bangalore Police Commissioner Raghavendra H Auradkar said.
"Those ATMs which don't comply with the instructions will not be allowed to function," he said in a release, even as the banks struggled to adhere to the earlier order to deploy guards at all their ATM kiosks. He said a few banks have sought more time to deploy security personnel and install CCTV cameras and alarms, citing procedural delay.
The banks have also asked that those kiosks located in guarded ares like railway stations, bus stations and commercial complexes, among others, be exempted from the order on posting security guards. Police, meanwhile, continued to remain clueless about the assailant who, in a brazen attack, had hit the woman with machete repeatedly leaving her in a pool of blood some hours before she was rushed to a hospital.
A CCTV footage showing a man bearing resemblance to the assailant drawing cash from an ATM in Ananthpur district was released by Andhra Pradesh police on Sunday last. Bangalore police has announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh to anyone providing information leading to the arrest of the assailant.
