Udaipur, April 21: While the rest of the nation reels under cash crunch at Automated Teller Machine (ATM), about five robbers cut open an SBI ATM machine and looted Rs 18 Lakh. As per reports by ANI, the incident took place at an SBI ATM near police station in Dabok, Udaipur. According to the CCTV footage, the robbers who wore masks and looted the ATM came in a SUV and carried out the robbery late at night.

A close look at the footage reveals that the robbers used gas cutters to open the ATM to carry out the robbery. After they took away all the cash, they managed to flee the spot. Police are investigating the CCTV footage to nab the criminals.

Here's the SBI ATM that was looted by robbers:

In the past few days, cash shortage has been reported from several parts of the country including states such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Soon after, the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) swung into action to address currency shortages in half a dozen states.

Reports inform that the cash crunch was caused by an increased demand due to ongoing crop procurement and the marriage season, besides non-functioning automated teller machines (ATMs).

Earlier this week, Government spoke to PSBs on cash situation and assured that above 80% ATMs will start functioning within a day. A research by SBI estimates that Rs 15,291 billion was withdrawn from ATMs through debit cards in the second half of FY18, which is a good 12.2 per cent growth over the previous six months.

The cash crunch issue in various states drew criticism for the Modi government. The Aam Aadmi Party took a jibe at the government and said that the Narendra Modi government has taken 'Cashless India' to another level. Meanwhile, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that the "terror of note ban" has once again gripped the country due to the reported shortage of cash in several states and accused prime minister Narendra Modi of destroying the country's banking system with his demonetisation decision.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 21, 2018 08:59 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).