Over three years ago, this video of a horrific attack in a Bengaluru ATM shocked the nation:
And now the man behind the attack has finally been arrested in Chitoor district of Andhra Pradesh – in what was a routine operation to track down absconding criminals.
The man, identified as 43-year-old Madhukar Reddy, had escaped from a hospital in Kadappa in 2011 while serving a life sentence for a murder. He allegedly committed the attack in the Bengaluru ATM two years later.
Reddy was caught by a special police team tracking criminals who had escaped and during interrogation confessed to the brutal assault on the bank official inside the ATM kiosk on November 19, 2013. The recording of the incident by a CCTV in the ATM showed him repeatedly attacking the helpless woman with a machete.
Reddy has also told the police that he murdered two women in Andhra Pradesh and a sex worker in Hyderabad, police officials said.
The Bengaluru attack had triggered widespread outrage as the woman, an employee of Corporation Bank, was left paralysed on her right side. It also raised the issue of safety at ATMs with the government directing banks to shut down unguarded booths.
After attacking the woman in the ATM, Reddy had worked as a painter at some places in Kerala and in Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, the police said, adding that Reddy had returned to Chitoor for treatment for some ailment.
The woman’s family has said they are happy about the arrest after three years.
“We thought he may never be arrested. We came to know about his arrest through the media and we are happy about it,” Uday Kumar, Jyothi’s husband, told Indian Express.
With inputs from PTI