Man drugs passenger on train, robs him of ₹1.22-L valuables; held

Biswas’s latest victim, Akshay Shantaram Indulkar, 29, runs a school in Karnataka’s Bagalkot district.

A 48-year-old man was arrested recently by the Government Railway Police (GRP) for allegedly drugging a Karnataka man on an outstation train and robbing him of ₹1.22 lakh worth of valuables.

After eating the laddu, which was allegedly laced with sedatives, Indulkar felt drowsy after fell asleep. (HT image)

“The accused, Sameer Biswas, is a habitual offender and suspected of robbing many train passenger similarly,” said Hemant Bavdhankar, senior inspector of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) GRP.

Biswas’s latest victim, Akshay Shantaram Indulkar, 29, runs a school in Karnataka’s Bagalkot district. In his statement to police, Indulkar said that on August 25 he travelled to Thane to buy a gold mangalsutra for his wife. He then boarded the CSMT-Gadag Express to return to Karnataka at 9.30pm. In the train, the accused, posing as a fellow passenger, befriended Indulkar. As the two became familiar, Biswas offered him a laddu to eat, the police said.

After eating the laddu, which was allegedly laced with sedatives, Indulkar felt drowsy after fell asleep. “I woke up at 8.30am the next day when the train had reached Karnataka. I found all my belongings — mobile phone, finger ring and the bag which had my wife’s gold mangalsutra — worth an estimated ₹1.22lakh, were missing along with Biswas,” he mentioned in his statement.

Indulkar was later admitted to the Kumareshwar Hospital in Bagalkot for treatment. He later returned to Mumbai and filed a complaint with the CSMT GRP early this month.

Police checked CCTV footage of the railway stations and identified Biswas. He was arrested under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).