2 college students steal 28 phones on Mumbai local trains in 2 months, arrested

The two used to give the stolen phones to two other men, who either used or sold them.

The crime branch of the Government Railway Police (GRP) arrested two girls for stealing more than 28 mobile phones of commuters on local trains in the past two months.

Officials recovered the stolen phones from the accused. (HT Photo)

Twinkle Jayraj Soni, 20, and Tinal Jayantilal Parmar, 19, who are residents of Dahisar, were caught when they recently tried to steal mobile phones in the women’s compartment.

Soni and Parmar used to give the stolen phones to two other men, who either used or sold them. According to GRP officers, Parmar, cleared her HSC exams this year, whereas Soni is a second year interior designing student. Purshottam Karad, deputy commissioner of police, GRP (Western Railway), said they had been getting several complaints of mobile thefts from women travelling in the 8.47am local.

The officers then laid a trap by deploying assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Prithvi More and Manjrekar in the women’s compartment. “The two girls used to meet at Dahisar station at 8.15am and travel to Borivli. From Borivli, they would board separate compartments in a slow up local. After stealing the phones, they would get off at Kandivli and go to college. In the evening, they would again go on a stealing spree, on their way home from Kandivli,” said More.

Karad said the two used to give the phones to their boyfriends, who then sold them to Rahul Rajpurohit alias Champak, 28, who owns a mobile shop at Borivli. In return, Champak paid the girls ₹2,000 for each phone he sold. “We have arrested Champak and the two men. We are now finding out if Champak dealt with more mobile thieves,” Dhanvate said.