Railway commuters in Mumbai lost valuables worth ₹5.25 crore in six months

The GRP have registered 2,654 cases between January 1 and June 30 this year. Of these, 2,543 or 95℅ cases are of theft and robbery, and only 907 cases could be solved, with recovery of goods worth ₹1.58 crore

Suburban railway commuters in Mumbai have lost cash and valuables amounting to ₹5.25 crore to robbers and fatka gang members in the past six months.

Women RPF and GRP officers help women commuters board a train at Ghatkopar station in Mumbai. (HT archive)

The Government Railway Police (GRP) have registered 2,654 cases between January 1 and June 30 this year. Of these, 2,543 or 95℅ cases are of theft and robbery, and only 907 cases could be solved, with recovery of goods worth ₹1.58 crore.

To crack down on robbers, the GRP has started registering all missing bag cases as those of theft. In the past two months, the GRP has registered 303 cases of bag lifting, which were earlier registered as missing cases and not investigated at all, amounting to a loss of property worth ₹1.12 crore. Out of these, police have solved 74 cases.

All GRP units have been instructed to register all missing bag cases as thefts. GRP commissioner Quaiser Khalid said that the move was adopted along the lines of directives issued by then GRP commissioner Nikhet Kaushik in 2017 to register mobile missing cases as thefts. The drive led to recovery of several lost / stolen mobile phones and arrests of the thieves and robbers.

Taking cue from that, Khalid issued directives to register missing bag cases as thefts. “When we register a missing bag case, it is not investigated and chances of getting the belongings are low. Now that an FIR is registered, the officers are compelled to investigate the case,” he said.

Khalid said normally, when a commuter forgets his bag or wallet in a train or railway premises, he would have to check the lost and found department of the terminal where the train concludes. “In case the commuter does not find his belongings there, he will have to approach the GRP police station and register a complaint of theft,” said Khalid.

The police officers will then check the CCTVs of railway stations where the commuter said he forgot the bag and track it till the last station or terminal where the train concludes its journey trying to locate the bag.