Panvel GRP arrest man for stealing mobile phones from passengers in Express train

The Panvel Government Railway Police have caught a thief from Govandi for stealing mobile phones from passengers in Express trains

The Panvel Government Railway Police (GRP) have caught a thief from Govandi who targetted Express trains to make way with mobile phones of passengers.

Panvel GRP arrest man for stealing mobile phones from passengers in Express trains. (HT FILE PHOTO)

The accused, identified as Abdul Kadir Ashique Idrisi (28), was nabbed on Thursday from Govandi after Panvel GRP received a tip off about him.

On Tuesday, complainant Anoop Mannapurath Pappach (26), who worked in a church in Wayanad, Kerala, had boarded Eranakulam superfast train in the evening from Calicut railway station to reach Pune. At around 11.45pm, he went to sleep by keeping his phone for charging. By 2am on Wednesday, after he reached Panvel Railway Station, he realised that his phone was missing. Pappach got down and registered a case with Panvel GRP.

“In the investigations, we asked the complainant about any suspicious person he saw loitering in the train and he described the accused. After we spoke to our informers, we suspected a man from Govandi. After he was traced, we found the complainant’s mobile phone as well as another one from another case. The accused targetted Express trains to steal the mobile phones,” Pravin Padvi, senior police inspector from Panvel GRP, said.

The police suspected that the accused would have committed many thefts in the Express trains but owing to the inconvenience of getting down in between and reporting, most of the commuters did not register the case and the accused took the advantage of the same.

The accused, an alcohol addict, used to sell each mobile phone and used the money to buy alcohol.