A burglary attempt rendered useless when some robbers broke open national bank’s automated teller machine (ATM) near Maharashtra’s Palghar in the wee hours of Saturday. There was no cash inside the machine, leading the burglars to return empty-handed.

Police said that the incident took place at Maswan village in Palghar.

A Manor police station official said, “Some miscreants stormed into an ATM kiosk of a nationalised bank around 2 am. They not only broke open the ATM box, but also damaged the CCTV camera installed inside the room.”

There was no cash stored inside the ATM as repair works of the machine had been going on for a while, the police said.

A case has been registered and the accused is yet to be identified.

Previously, in January this year, some unidentified thieves looted over Rs 38 Lakhs from two ATMs in Rajasthan’s Ajmer. The gang robbed an ATM in Ajmer’s Arain area of Rs 8 lakhs and another ATM in the district’s Roopangarh was robbed of Rs 30 lakhs.

The incidents took place two days apart and CCTV footage had shown three masked men tying a chain to the machine and uprooting it within minutes. They took the ATM along in their vehicle.

Considering that the methods of the robbery were identical, police suspected that both the crimes were committed by the same gang of thieves.

(With inputs from PTI)