Hyderabad: 2 students steal 500 ATM cards

HYDERABAD: A 20-year-old BSC first-year student and a 20-year-old B.Tech first-year student, along with their friend, were involved in the theft of as many as 500 ATM cards from BC Welfare Corporation office employees and others and have drawn at least Rs 4 lakh in cash from the cardholders’ accounts.Chilkalguda police, while checking vehicles and frisking people at Padmarao Nagar in Secunderabad on Friday,  took three persons into custody. During interrogation, the three revealed that they had stolen ATM cards from the BC Corporation office and other persons and drawn Rs 4 lakh.The accused are Gadha Manikanta alias Bhasker (19), sales boy at Smart Kids, Puthlibowli; Allakonda Shiva Kumar alias Chintu alias Shiva (20), B.Tech-I student; and Toopu Sathya  Shiva Kumar Goud alias Kanna (20), B.Sc-I _ all residents of Jillelaguda in Ranga Reddy district.Chikkadapally police detective inspector Mohammed Khaja Moinuddin said Sathya Shiva Kumar Goud visited the BC Corporation office at Amberpet in May 2010 for verification of his scholarship. There he saw a carton full of SBI ATM cards with PINs, and stole it.Later, he, along with his friends Manikanta, Shiva Kumar and Naveen Reddy drew Rs 2,000 using a card. Tasting success, they hatched a plan to commit another theft at the same office and stole another carton of ATM cards in June.  They rented a house at Champapet for Rs 1,000 a month and went on drawing money from various ATM centres at Barkas and Chandrayanagutta. Not content with the ill-gotten money, they again went the to BC Corporation office and stole another carton of ATM card kits.They drew huge amounts from ATM centres at Barkas, Gayathri Nagar and Chandrayanagutta area. With that money Manikanta bought a Bajaj Pulsar bike and Siva Kumar a Hero Impulse while Naveen Reddy released his Honda Stunner from mortgage. Sathya Siva Kumar Goud lent money to his friends. After withdrawing Rs 4 lakh,  they burnt some card kits and threw some into a septic tank.