Two recent incidents showed very different approaches to carrying out crimes in India.

In one case, a man torched an ATM for no obvious reason, in another a gang used bedsheets to facilitate the robbery of a mobile phone shop.

On August 9, CCTV filmed an unidentified man poring petrol on a Hitachi ATM machine in front of PG College in Khargone in Madhya Pradesh. He then threw a match on the machine and set it on fire.

Police say they are looking for the youth, whose motive is entirely unclear. They said he later stood in a crowd of people who gathered as it burned, none of whom realised he was the instigator.

In a less senseless but no less brazen crime, six thieves made off with mobile phones worth Rs 40 lakh (4m rupees; $53,000) from a showroom on a busy road in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, on 21 June.

Two of the crooks used bedsheets to hide the other men as they broke open the store's shutter. One of them then slipped inside and carried away the cell phones in a bag.

The shop owner, Nitesh Agarwal, realised the theft when he went to the shop later. He said they broke in at around 6.30am local time. He said the thieves unboxed the phones and took only the devices.

Police now have the CCTV footage and are trying to catch the criminals.

On August 9 an unidentified man poured petrol on an Hitachi white label ATM machine located in front of PG College in Khargone in the state of Madhya Pradesh. He then threw a match stick on the machine and set it on fire. The act of the youth has been caught on the CCTV camera installed at the ATM machine. Police have registered and are looking for the man. Based on CCTV footage, police sources said the man stood there with the crowd watching the machine burn down after setting it on fire though no one suspected him. They have no idea of the motive behind the crime.

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Six thieves  stole mobile handsets worth Rs 40 lakh from a showroom located on a busy road in Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh, India. They sat casually on the steps for sometime. Two of them held bedsheets as cover while others broke open the shutter. One of them slipped inside and carried away the mobile phones in a bag.

The shop owner, Nitesh Agarwal, realised the theft when he went to the shop later. He said thieves had broken in around 6.30 am. He said the thieves unboxed the phones and took only the devices and left wrappers behind. Police got the CCTV footage and are trying to catch the criminals under the guidance of officer AK Chaurasia. The theft took place on June 21.