A meticulously planned theft operation involving huge effort ended up yielding just a paltry sum.

Three masked thieves broke into an Indian Overseas Bank branch in the early hours of January 18 in Heggare near Tumkur in Southern India.

They tied thick ropes to the ATM machine and yanked it off with the help of a truck. They then worked hard to lift the heavy unit with their bare hands and load it to on the truck.

The thieves then drove to Dobbespet about 75 kms away and spotted a remote farm where they could retrieve the cash. They broke into a building used by a farmer to keep his irrigation water pumps and drew electricity from there to power their cutting tool to break open the ATM machine.

All that effort yielded them just 85,000 rupees (850 GBP).

A bank official said: “We do not usually load cash on Sundays and so when they stole it on Monday the machine was depleted. If they had broken in on any other day they could have gone away with a lot of money. They got their timing wrong.”

The abandoned machine was found by the farm owner Puttalingiah, who informed the police. Police have formed special squads to catch the thieves.