The horrifying incident was captured on CCTV. It happened at an ATM on a busy Bangalore road. The victim's skull is fractured and a small piece of bone had gone into the brain, causing a "penetrating injury".
Latest update: Karnataka Home Minister says: All ATMs without security will be shut down. The victim's skull is fractured which has resulted in paralysis on the right side. The police intensified its hunt on Wednesday for the assailant whose gory act caught on CCTV footage sparked an outrage.
What happened? In a bone-chilling incident, a woman withdrawing cash in an ATM on a busy road in the city was attacked by a machete-wielding man on Tuesday.
The horrifying incident — captured in the CCTV footage — unfolded at 7.10am in an ATM belonging to Corporation Bank, situated on the busy JC Road, near NR Square.
The victim Jyothi Uday, manager, service branch of Corporation Bank, Mission Road, entered the ATM to withdraw cash for her child's birthday when the miscreant followed her into the ATM.
On entering, the miscreant pulls down the shutter to prevent people from knowing the goings-on in the ATM. The sequence of events that soon followed, as captured by the CCTV, are harrowing to say the least.
According to the footage, the miscreant orders the woman bank officer to withdraw cash, but the woman refuses. The refusal angers the miscreant who attacks the woman with his machete and flees the scene after lifting the shutter.
Police arrived at the spot after people who happened to notice blood stains in front of the ATM alerted them. The bleeding woman, who was by now unconscious, was shifted to Victoria Hospital. Later, she was taken to Nimhans and finally to BGS Global Hospital, Kengeri.
Speaking to dna, O Vittal Rao, manager, service branch, Corporation Bank, said Jyothi was supposed to attend duty at 7.30am and the bank staff came to know about the incident only after 9.30am. “She was in-charge of the first shift and stayed in Raja Rajeswari Nagar. It is very unfortunate that she has been attacked.”
Assistant commissioner of police Siddaramaiah said two special police teams had been formed to nab the accused. “We have taken the CCTV footage and are investigating,’’ said Siddaramaiah.
Police commissioner Raghavendra Auradkar said they had definite clues about the accused.
When asked about the delay in nabbing the culprit - considering the fact that police had recently nabbed two people who had killed a security guard at an ATM on Outer Ring Road recently - Auradkar said there was a two-hour gap between the incident and the time it had been reported.
“The two-hour gap had provided an opportunity for the accused to escape from the spot. We are confident of nabbing him soon,’’ the police commissioner said.
Karnataka government today bluntly told banks to close down such kiosks unless they provide security. As the shocking episode continued to grab media attention with the cctv footage of the gory act being beamed, Home Minister K J George held a high-level meeting to discuss measures to curb such incidents. George said more than 600 of the total 2,580 ATMs in the city have no security guards.