Costly meal: 'Rats' shred notes worth Rs.12L in Assam ATM
What's the story
Tinsukia district in Assam is in the news for bizarre, amusing and alarming reasons: rats apparently tore to shreds currency notes worth Rs. 12L inside an ATM here. The SBI ATM stopped functioning on May 20, officials said, but repairmen opened it to check for damage only on June 11, when they saw the fiasco. True story, or a repeat of Bihar's infamous "alcohol-drinking" rats?
Case
The ATM remained dysfunctional for more than 20 days
The ATM at Laipuli had been filled with notes worth Rs. 29L on May 19, officials said. The next day, it stopped working. When repairmen finally arrived on June 11, they were shocked to see notes shredded into tiny pieces. "We have been able to salvage about Rs. 17L," a bank official said. The ATM was run by a Guwahati-based company called FIS: Global Business Solutions.
Twitter Post
HDFC dismisses reports the ATM is theirs
#FakeNews Pls note this is NOT an HDFC Bank ATM. The below photograph has been doing rounds on social media for sometime. Like we have said earlier, this isn’t an HDFC Bank ATM. This seems like a prank but unfortunately showing our bank in bad light. Please do not believe in it. pic.twitter.com/eoLVl3S5HW
— HDFC Bank (@HDFCBank_Cares) June 19, 2018
Reax
Twitterati have a field day
Twitterati was quick to take note. Many pointed out it was unbelievable, but even those who believed the claim had one question: why did it take SBI/FIS 20 days to send workers? Jokes on "demonetization part-II" and "surgical strike by rats" flooded the internet. Amid the controversy, a local journalist tweeted a video that showed a dead rat amid the pile of shredded notes.
Twitter Post
A dead mouse purportedly recovered from the ATM
Really Size doesn’t matter!! What a rat this is! Rat-bitten bank notes worth Rs 12 lakh 38 thousand. Torn notes and dead rat found inside ATM in Tinsukia Assam. Rat found dead before little one could bite remaining Rs 17 lakh 10 thousand. pic.twitter.com/3Omns7gAZH
— Nandan Pratim Sharma Bordoloi 🇮🇳 (@NANDANPRATIM) June 18, 2018
Bihar
Remember the Bihar rats that drank 9L liter of alcohol?
The incident is strikingly similar to when Bihar Police claimed that rats had drunk 9L liters of alcohol the forces had seized. The claim came after media pointed out that confiscated liquor was vanishing from police stations. Of course, during a surprise check after these allegations, at least two policemen were found drunk on duty. Bihar under Nitish Kumar banned alcohol in late 2016.