Vadodara: A manager and an officer of a bank are among four people who were arrested by police for allegedly siphoning more than Rs 10 lakh from the bank’s automatic teller machine (ATM) in the Vadodara district of Gujarat.

The alleged theft occurred at an Indian Overseas Bank ATM in Waghodiya town, Vadodara district. The defendants were identified as bank manager Hemant Kumar, peon Sailesh Sharma and two technicians – Shubham Singh and Vinu who visited the ATM to resolve an issue. The crime came to light after the new bank manager discovered an inconsistency in the details of the money in the ATM. According to the bank documents, there was money in the ATM machine, but in reality the machine had no money.

Police suspect the money was stolen from an ATM between October 19 and October 28. During this period, the machine had some technical problems. The money siphoned from the ATM was loaded a day before the machine stopped working, according to a report released by Times of India.

No forced attempt to open the machine was noticed, a police officer said, adding that it appeared that someone who had the password to the ATM safe executed the crime.

“The manager and the peon were condemned for their negligence or their involvement which we are investigating. Two other people who have also been cited as accused are technicians who came to repair the machine, ”said the TOI report, citing the officer.

Police have yet to register the arrest of the four defendants, who have been named in the FIR.

It comes days after an unidentified person allegedly threw chili powder in the face of an 80-year-old woman and then tore off her gold chain worth Rs 60,000. The incident took place in the Dhayari region of Pune in Maharashtra.