Western Railway’s Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel are always at the forefront to protect and secure the lives of passengers. RPF WR has launched Operation Yatri Suraksha under which RPF catches criminals involved in passenger-related crimes such as theft and robbery & the accused are handed over to GRP for further legal action. With a focused approach to enhance security of passengers, Western Railway’s RPF of Mumbai Division detected a total of 494 cases from January to September, 2022 with the help of CCTV surveillance cameras.
According to a press release issued by Sumit Thakur – Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Railway, RPF has made a special effort in containing the menace of theft of passenger belongings in Mumbai Division both in suburban and long-distance trains with the help of crime intelligence. Giving impetus to Operation Yatri Suraksha, Western Railway has installed 3897 CCTV cameras including 488 cameras with inbuilt Facial Recognition System (FRS) which contains details of criminals along with their photos which are uploaded in the system to curb crimes against passengers. From Jan 2022 to September 2022, WR’s RPF has detected 494 cases of crime against passengers and has apprehended 428 accused, as well as recovered property valued at over Rs. 1.37 crore.
Thakur added that going ahead with this stellar performance by RPF WR to control crimes against passengers, WR’s RPF Posts Mumbai Central, Surat and Vadodara detected three special cases recently, in a single day & were successful in catching the culprit.
At Mumbai Central station, a theft of a passenger’s bag containing an Apple Macbook laptop with accessories and cash Rs. 1200/- total value of Rs. 1,33,100/- had been reported in Train No. 12931 at Platform No. 1 at Mumbai Central station and in this connection, a case against unknown person was registered. Subsequently an RPF team was formed at Mumbai Central RPF Post to support GRP/MMCT in detection of the case, and after reviewing and scrolling the vast data over CCTV footage, the suspect person was identified. The photograph of the suspect was uploaded which showed him visiting Vasai Road station frequently. Continuous watch was kept on the suspect and on the basis of inputs received from FRS the suspect was apprehended by the RPF team and handed over to GRP for further necessary action.
At Surat station, at about 07:55 hours, a thief snatched a mobile phone valued Rs. 12000/- from a passenger who was boarding Train No. 20804 at Platform No. 2. The thief after snatching the mobile tried to run away which was brought to notice and apprehended by Crime Prevention & Detection Squad (CPDS) RPF staff. After a brief inquiry, the offender accepted his guilt of theft of the mobile phone and disclosed his name as Aspaq Nisar Shaikh age -22 years, Subsequently, he was handed over to GRP Surat for further legal action. GRP Surat registered a case against the offender u/s-379 IPC.
In yet another incident, an Alarm Chain Pulling (ACP) took place at Vadodara station as soon as Train no. 20907 left the station. The ACP was attended by on-duty RPF staff and found that an outsider was running away after stealing passenger belongings. After a thorough search and on the basis of the identification of the clothes caught the offender named Manish, aged 19 years, from whom a gold chain worth Rs. 25,000/- was recovered. After contacting the victim woman passenger and confirming/identification of the stolen chain, the said offender was handed over to GRP/Vadodara for further necessary action, on which GRP/Vadodara registered a case.
