3 who looted jeweller at Mumbai Central station were cops, confirms CCTV footage

The incident took place on August 10 at around 10.30 pm when the jeweller, Kamal Soni, was at the railway station with his daughter and brother-in-law to board a train for Rajasthan. There, two men in khaki uniform, asked to check his bag

MUMBAI: Two days after a case was registered by the Government Railway Police (GRP) against three persons presumed to be cops for extorting ₹30,000 from a Rajasthani jeweller at Mumbai Central station, the three were identified as police personnel and suspended by the GRP commissioner.

Illustration of the three thieves on a white background

The GRP’s crime branch scanned CCTV footage and identified two of the men while the identity of the third was arrived at based on the statements of four other GRP personnel who are suspected to be linked to the crime. GRP commissioner Rakesh Kalasagar said that the four had been transferred to the GRP headquarters at Wadi Bunder while the assistant sub-inspector and two constables involved in the Mumbai Central robbery are absconding.

The incident took place on August 10 at around 10.30 pm when the jeweller, Kamal Soni, was at the railway station with his daughter and brother-in-law to board a train for Rajasthan. There, two men in khaki uniform, asked to check his bag.

Soni, who had arrived in Mumbai on August 1 for a gold exhibition, had a 14-gram gold bar and ₹31,900 in cash in his bag. “The man in uniform was sitting with two others on the iron bench meant for police personnel,” he said. “When he discovered the gold bar and cash, he began asking questions. I told him I could produce receipts but he slapped me in front of my seven-year-old and abused me. The men then took me to a dark room on the platform, kept me there for half an hour and threatened me with arrest.”

Soni said that since he did not want to miss his train and see his daughter traumatised, he let the men take the money. “They returned ₹1,900 to me. I then boarded my train,” he said. An FIR was registered on Sunday at Ratangard police station and then transferred to Mumbai Central GRP.

After Soni wrote to the authorities, the Mumbai Central GRP booked three unidentified men under Section 119 (1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita. They were later identified as GRP personnel.