Cracking down on mobile phone thieves prying on commuters, the Railway Protection Force (RPF), Central Railway, nabbed five people in three days in Mumbai division, and also recovered several stolen phones from them. Confirming the development, a senior rail officer said, “The RPF personnel from the crime prevention and detection squad (CPDS) has been on the alert mode regarding patrolling of trains and stations.”
Details of campaign
Acting on a tip-off on February 14, the squad followed a suspicious person from Wadala Road to Kurla and nabbed him at the Kurla station when he started running away. The accused, Rizwan Shaikh from Mankhurd, subsequently confessed to have stolen a phone from a passenger worth Rs22,999. The device was recovered from him. Next day, the RPF personnel posted at the Ambarnath station were alerted by passengers in a Thane-bound train at 2.02pm about a person trying to run away after deboarding. The uniformed duo chased and apprehended the man identified as Deepak Waghri. Two phones were recovered from him.
On February 15 again, the personnel at the Kalyan station got a tip off regarding a suspicious person moving in the vicinity. Dashrath Thakur said that he stole phones from passengers at Kalyan and two devices worth Rs31,800 were in his possession. On February 14, the RPF personnel posted at the Bhusaval station, noticed a person moving in a suspicious manner. Krishna Sawant confessed to have stolen a phone from a passenger of Sachkhand Express.A day ago, one Sameer Pathan was caught at the Bhusaval station, who revealed that he stole a phone from a passenger sleeping in the general coach of Amravati Express.
“All the accused were handed over to the Government Railway Police of the respective jurisdictions for further action,” said the official.
