After the state government has started unlocking cities relaxing several restrictions enforced in the wake of the second wave of pandemic. People started crowding on road for shopping and roaming around. However, citizens need to be be safe while traveling as cases of mobile snatching while traveling have seen a rise in Thane.
The rising cases have increased the concern of the police officials who have started scrutinizing the CCTV footage to trace bike born thieves operating in the city.
In the first case reported at Kalwa police station, a 40 year old woman, a housewife from Kharegaon, had registered a theft case. In her complaint she said she was travelling with her daughter in an auto-rickshaw. "The incident took place on June 9, at 9:15 am near Kharegaon entry point. The mother daughter boarded an auto-rickshaw when two bike borne came near their auto and snatched the mobile phone from her daughter's hand by putting hand in the auto-rickshaw. They speeded up to get disappeared in the crowd and robbed the mobile phone worth Rs 90,000," said a police officer stating a case has been registered on June 14 at Kalwa police station.
Similarly, the second case was reported in Naupada police station, where Rohan Rokade, 28, a Kalyan resident, was traveling to Mumbai on his scooty. The incident took place on the road heading from towards Mumbai. "He was about to take the Teen Hath Naka flyover, when two bike borne riders came near him. The pillion rider took away Rokade's mobile phone kept in his shirt pocket. The two were on a red motorcycle, which didn't have any number on the back. The mobile phone was worth Rs 13,000," said a police officer.
The Kalwa and Naupada police have registered a case under section 392 (punishment for robbery) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian penal code.
On June 9, a 27-year-old woman died as she fell off an autorickshaw while trying to fight off two mobile phone robbers in Thane. The deceased, Kanmilla Raisingh, who worked in a spa in a mall, was headed home along with her friend. As the auto reached Teen Hath Naka, two bike-borne robbers tried to snatch her mobile. She lost her balance and fell and hit her head on the road. The duo was arrested on Thursday.
A senior officer from Thane commissionerate said, "We have increased police patrolling as well as police presence. The local police as well as crime branch are parallelly scrutinizing the CCTV footage and local network to get leads of the accused involved in the crime. After lockdown with many people being jobless and with less source of income, many newcomers are too into theft of mobile snatching," said the official.
