Thieves Flee With Demo EVM Machine, Mistaking It To Be A Briefcase

In a rather bizarre case of theft, an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) was stolen from Maharashtra's Pune District.

According to Police, the EVM, which was a demo unit was stolen from the Saswad Tehsil Office on Sunday night.

BCCL/ REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE

Demo EVM stolen

The EVM was meant for awareness programmes in the area ahead of the Lok Sabha Elections later this year.

Around 40 EVM were stored at the Saswad Tehsil Office and on Monday the, office staffers noticed that the lock of the godown was broken.

Upon inspection, they noticed that one Control Unit (CU) was missing.

CCTV visuals from the locality showed three men entering the store room and leaving with the CU in their hand.

SCREENGRAB

Accused arrested

Based on this a police complaint was filed and during the investigation, the cops identified two of the thieves.

The police also recovered the CU from one of the accused and arrested two of them.

According to reports, the two men had stolen the EVM, which they thought was a briefcase.

The stolen control unit of the EVM was recovered within 24 hours of the theft, the Police said.?

"We nabbed two persons involved in the crime and the control unit was recovered from them in Jejuri area of the district. We are investigating the matter further," a police officer said.

Election Commission takes note of EVM theft

While the EVM has been recovered and the accused arrested, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has taken serious note of the matter.

The EC has directed the state to suspend the area's sub-divisional officer, tehsildar and sub-divisional police officer and initiate disciplinary proceedings against them.

It also directed the state government to seek an explanation from the district election officer, superintendent of police and district collector for not ensuring security protocols of training and awareness.

“There were directions from the Election Commission about the suspension. We are in the process of issuing the suspension orders,” said Chandrakant Pulkundwar, the divisional commissioner (Pune division).?

Cop suspended for negligence?

The Pune Rural Police had also placed under suspension a police Constable posted there on duty for ‘negligence’ and a probe was launched by the Saswad Police.?

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