Hyderabad, Oct 22 (IANS): Police in Telangana's Mahabubabad district on Friday arrested five employees of a cash management firm for a Rs 52 lakh fraud and for trying to cover up the crime by setting an ATM afire.

The police busted the gang during the investigation into the fire in Axis Bank ATM. The accused had made the officials believe that the money was gutted in the fire.

The police, who conducted an investigation, found that the accused staged a drama to make officials believe that the cash was burnt in the fire. The incident had occurred last week in Mahbubabad town.

The investigations revealed that the accused had hired a person to set the ATM afire and promised to pay him Rs 2 lakh.

Police found involvement of an eight-member gang in the case. Five of them were arrested while search was on for three other accused.

Police also recovered Rs 6.70 lakh cash from the accused. Documents of two plots worth Rs 23 lakh were also seized from them.

A police officer said the accused while loading cash in ATMs were keeping some money with them. Main accused Nagarjuna alone was involved in swindling Rs 42 lakh during the last few weeks.