This story is from November 19, 2016

Clueless cops close ATM attack case

Three years after the infamous ATM attack where a woman was brutally assaulted by a machete-wielding man in an ATM kiosk, all that Bengaluru police have to show in the case is a `C' report: A closure document acknowledging their inability to arrest the culprit.
Clueless cops close ATM attack case
The Corporation Bank ATM near Corporation Circle where bank officer Jyothi Uday was attacked on November 19, 2013
BENGALURU: Three years after the infamous ATM attack where a woman was brutally assaulted by a machete-wielding man in an ATM kiosk, all that Bengaluru police have to show in the case is a `C' report: A closure document acknowledging their inability to arrest the culprit.
On November 19, 2013, bank officer Jyothi Uday (in picture) was hacked multiple times by an unidentified attacker in a Corporation Bank ATM at NR Square near the BBMP headquarters, in the heart of the city.

On Friday , which marks three years of the attack, senior police officers revealed to TOI they had submitted a closure report before the court last year-end, stating that special teams had not been able to track the attacker.
Silver Jubilee Park police station officers who filed the closure report said the court accepted their submission. There were 217 murders reported in the city during 2013, but the ATM attack drew attention as gruesome CCTV images of Jyothi being attacked with a machete were shown on TV screens worldwide.
The manhunt for the attacker, who wore a blue striped shirt, was the second largest manhunt in Karnataka police history, after the search for forest brigand Veerappan. Despite police banking on modern investigation techniques including CCTV images and mobile tracking, they failed in their mission.
The attacker entered the kiosk seconds after Jyothi went in. He pulled down the shutter and ordered Jyothi to withdraw money and hand it over.When she refused, he hit her several times with a machete, snatched her mobile and left after downing the shutter.Two schoolboys who saw blood coming out of the ATM alerted police.

There was some initial progress in the case. Tracking signals from Jyothi's cellphone, the technical cell of the Central Crime Branch managed to zero in on the device in Hindupur, Anantapur district. Jyothi Uday , the ATM attack victim, sat neck-deep in work, unaware that the case against her attacker was closed. Three years ago on this day , the bank official was attacked multiple times by an unidentified man at an unguarded Corporation Bank ATM kiosk on JC Road, near the BBMP headquarters.
While her attacker is still at large, Jyothi is on the road to recovery . After long hours at work, she heads for ayurveda treatment; the right side of her body is yet to recover from the injuries inflicted by the man on that fateful day. On Friday morning, Uday Kumar, Jyothi's husband, said neither he nor his wife was aware that cops had closed the case a few months earlier. “There was no communication. In fact, there has been no mention about the probe for some time. We have been working on her health,“ said Uday.
Following the attack, Jyothi was under treatment and didn't go to work for 87 days. The machete-wielding man had landed heavy blows on her head and face, resulting in a chip from her skull piercing the brain.Jyothi had to undergo a major neurosurgical operation to get the bone fragment in the brain removed, following which the brain coverings were repaired and the fractured skull bones reset.Later, plastic surgeons reconstructed her nose and treated her facial injuries.
The gutsy woman rejoined work in February 2014. Uday said she took a transfer to Bidadi and later returned to the service branch, where she had been working when she was attacked. “Though she is doing better, her right side is still weak. She has been under ayurvedic treatment for the past few months,“ said Uday .
TIMES VIEW
It's perhaps one of the worst investigation failures in recent times.
Police had CCTV images of the attack on a bank official in an ATM kiosk in Bengaluru and they even managed to track down the victim's phone which had been sold to a cellphone dealer in Hindupur. But the trail ran cold there and two years later, the cops quietly closed the case, with the attacker still at large. The attack raised many questions about safety and security in ATMs and triggered some measures. But Jyothi's attacker roams free and the failure is a blot on Bengaluru police's track record.
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