In a bizarre and unexpected twist, a rat caused significant damage to a State Bank of India (SBI) ATM in Tinsukia, Assam, by chewing through nearly $18,000 in cash. The ATM had been out of service since May 20, leaving customers unable to withdraw money. When technicians opened the machine for repairs, they were met with a shocking sight: shredded banknotes and a dead rat inside.Chandan Sharma, the manager of the SBI branch, expressed his astonishment at the unusual discovery. Authorities estimate that the destroyed cash amounted to between 1.2 and 1.3 million rupees (approximately $17,662 to $19,000). Police superintendent Mugdha Jyoti Mahanta explained that the rat had likely entered the machine through a small opening meant for cables, which gave it access to the stored cash.Though incidents like this are extremely rare, SBI operates over 50,000 ATMs across India, and the bank is now reviewing security and maintenance protocols to ensure such an event doesn’t happen again. The case highlights how even the smallest creatures can present unexpected challenges to banking infrastructure.While the ATM outage led to temporary inconvenience for customers, the story quickly went viral, capturing the public’s attention for its strange and almost comical nature.