Shadab Mansoor Kadri, 21, a resident of Versova village with his accomplice Manish Lalbahadur Singh, 29, from Khotwadi, Santa Cruz planned to loot an ATM center in seven bungalows in Versova on late Monday night. For this, the duo went to the ATM center on a motor cycle at around 3:15 am and one of them waited outside while one went inside the center. The center was guarded by Navin Yadunandan Singh, 40, who worked as a watchman since 3-4 years.

“Kadri went inside the center and told Navin that he wanted to deposit some cash for which he needed an envelope. There were no envelopes at that time in the center. So Navin went inside the room to fetch some for Kadri. At that time, Kadri opened the panel of the ATM machine,” said Dilip Mane, senior police inspector of Versova police station.

According to Mane, just as Kadri was struggling to open the lock inside the panel, Navin came out with the envelopes. Navin was shocked to see the panel open. “Navin got suspicious and asked Kadri what was happening? Kadri told Navin that his debit card got stuck inside the machine and he was trying to remove that,” Mane said. But Navin did not buy the reason and pounced on Kadri. Kadri, however, overpowered him and pushed him making Navin fall. “Navin rushed outside the center and saw the duo fleeing on a motor cycle. Navin noted down the registration number of the motor cycle and called up the police control room on 100 and informed the police about the same,” Mane said.

The control room soon sent a wireless message to the mobile vans in the area. At that time Versova’s mobile van number 1 was patrolling the area. “The van flung into action and started looking for the motor cycle. At Aram Nagar area in Versova, the van spotted the duo on the moving bike. Our policemen chased them, intercepted them and arrested them before they could flee,” Mane said.