The GRP Mumbai on Sunday arrested a person on charges of stealing mobile phones from passengers. The Mumbai police, along with the GRP laid a trap to catch the offender in Borivali and caught one Laxman Ganesh Rajpurohit, a resident of Rajasthan.
Upon checking, the police recovered at least 50 mobile phones from his possession amounting to a total of Rs. 10,40,920.
"We got information through our informer that someone with dozens of theft phones is planning on boarding a train from Borivali on 14 April 2022," said a GRP official adding that the crime team laid a trap and caught the accused.
During the preliminary interrogation, the accused accepted his guilt. Asked about the total number of phones seized from the accused, an official said, "49 mobile phones were recovered from a bag in his possession. Apart from that, his mobile phone (accused was using) also belonged to someone else. An FIR has been registered in Thane GRP for the theft of a phone having the same IMEI number.
Phone theft has become a big menace in the suburban rail section of the city. Over 140 cases of phone theft have been registered in the different police stations of GRP Mumbai.
Asked about the phone theft gang, a GRP official said, "The gang members are in touch with agents across the city who buy stolen mobile phones from thieves at throwaway prices. Now we are targeting both phone thieves as well as purchasers of stolen phones."
Confirming the development Quaiser Khalid, Commissioner of Government Railway Police Mumbai said, "special drive against phone theft is ongoing, this is part of the drive."
