The Western Railway (WR) apprehended five persons involved in the theft case in a day on Sunday under Operation Yatri Suraksha. This year till the date, 226 thieves and 16 robbers have been apprehended by the Railway Protection Force (RPF), WR's Mumbai Central division.
In the first case, the RPF caught a robber with a mobile worth Rs 15,000 at Goregaon railway station. Another thief was caught with a mobile worth Rs 63,000 at Virar railway station and handed them over to the Government Railway Police (GRP).
Same day, a pickpocketer was caught at Nallasopara railway station and another one was caught at Vasai Road. Apart from that, another mobile thief was also caught by RPF from Surat railway station on Sunday.
"WR’s 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 and the accused are handed over to GRP for further legal action. With a focused approach under operation Yatri Suraksha, WR’s RPF is producing excellent results," said an officer of WR.
According to Sumit Thakur, chief public relations officer of WR, the RPF has formed special Crime Prevention and Detection Squads (CPDS) at all major stations in Mumbai division of WR which work by gathering source information to catch the criminals.
These teams collect information from CCTV footage, do the analysis of black spots in and around the stations and also maintain the record of previous criminals. Installation of CCTV cameras at stations in suburban sections has helped a lot in identifying the suspects and improving prevention and detection of cases.
Last year, more than 2,700 new CCTVs were installed in Churchgate-Virar suburban section while 86 CCTVs were installed at Surat station. Last week, two separate incidents of mobile theft while boarding the trains were reported from Dadar station. RPF–Dadar team of constables Sanjay Singh, Sanjeev Lamba and Pradeep Chaudhary analysed the incidents with the help of CCTV footage.
The thorough analysis of the footage brought to the notice of a person with suspicious activity. The suspect’s movement was mapped with the help of CCTV footage and it was traced that the suspect alighted at Bandra station.
On further checking the CCTV cameras of the city area, the suspect was apprehended with the help of an informer from Bandra West area. During preliminary integration, the suspect has been identified as Rakesh Shyam Gunjar (33), a resident of Andheri East.
During interrogation, he admitted to stealing the mobile in both the cases. It was also found that four other cases of theft have been registered against him in the past. The accused was then handed over to GRP Mumbai Central for further legal action.
