ATM assault: Cops zoom in on victim's phone in AP

Bangalore:  The Central Crime Branch (CCB) detained a man from Hindupur in Andhra Pradesh, homing in on him minutes after he switched on a cellphone that had been stolen by the unknown assailant who attacked 38-year-old Jyothi Udaykumar with a machete at an ATM in the city on Tuesday , and left her for dead. Police, tracked the victim's cellphone, a Nokia 2700 handset, using the IMEI number.

Abusar alias Mazdur from Hindupur, who owns a store called 'Marvel computers and mobiles' in Hindupur, claims he bought the cellphone for Rs 500 from the attacker, who was positively identified, by Mazdur when he was shown pictures by police. The attacker wanted Rs 2000 for the phone.

Rs 1 lakh reward announced for info on attacker

Acting swiftly, sleuths attached to the Central Crime Branch (CCB) have picked up a man from Hindupur in Andhra Pradesh after they found the latter using the cellphone belonging to 38-year-old Jyothi Udaykumar, the bank manager who was attacked and robbed at the Corporation Bank ATM kiosk near Hudson Circle on Tuesday .

Investigators picked up the man, identified as Abusar alias Mazdur from Hindupur on Wednesday night after tracking the victim's cellphone -a Nokia 2700 handset -using the IMEI number.

However, Mazdur -who owns a cell phone store in Hindupur -claims he purchased the cellphone for a paltry sum of Rs 500, from an unidentified man. The CCB sleuths suspect it is the same man who attacked Jyothi. Mazdur was reportedly brought to an undisclosed location in Madiwala in the wee hours of Thursday and questioned by the police, where he said that the assailant was in Hindupur around 4 pm on Wednesday.

The suspect allegedly demanded an initial sum of Rs 2,000 from Mazdur, who refused to pay that much. The suspect then reportedly went around Hindupur hoping to sell the handset at a higher price, but came back to Mazdur around 8 pm on Wednesday and agreed to sell the phone for Rs 500. Minutes after purchasing the cellphone, Mazdur is said to have switched on the handset and put in his sim card, which alerted the police officers about his location.

The police also showed Mazdur photographs of the suspect grabbed from CCTV footage of Tuesday's incident, and he is said to have made a positive identification of the suspect.

Family to go ahead with Birthday

Jyothi and Udaykumar's three-year-old child J Aatmika turns four on Friday, and the couple had reportedly planned to celebrate her birthday by throwing a small bash. They had also sent out invites to relatives, and Jyothi was in the process of withdrawing money to buy new clothes for Aatmika on Tuesday morning when tragedy struck. Though hospitalised, however, the mother is said to have insisted that her daughter's birthday be celebrated; but it is unsure whether the event will take place at the hospital or at the child's play-home in RR Nagar.