Mumbai BEST bus thief held; police recover 200 purses, 96 ATM cards, 53 Aadhar cards

The 24-year-old accused, Sufiya Imran Shaikh, has been remanded in police custody till May 12.

A 24-year-old woman was arrested for stealing a variety of things including 200 purses from BEST bus commuters. She would make anywhere between ₹1,000 and ₹10,000 every day by stealing in the past year.

Sufiya Imran Shaikh was arrested on May 7. (HT Photo)

Senior inspector DB Thorat said the accused, Sufiya Imran Shaikh was arrested on May 7 and was remanded in police custody till May 12. Police raided Shaikh’s residence in Chikuwadi, Mankhurd and found her husband and three children were entirely dependent on her activities for their sustenance. They found 200 ladies purses, 96 ATM cards, 52 Aadhar cards, 45 PAN cards, 56 pocket cards and much more from Shaikh’s residence.

Shaikh’s family also appointed a woman to take care of her children while she would be away every day. “Our staff found a suitcase containing 200 ladies purses, 96 ATM cards, 52 PAN cards, 21 election cards, 56 shopping cards, 23 BEST bus passes, 13 driving licenses, 4 railway passes, 7 passbooks and ₹7,000 cash,” said Tukaram Dighe, sub-inspector, Shahunagar police station.

Shaikh purportedly told the police that she used to sell flowers at the Dadar flower market daily. “She used to stay till 11am in the market, targeting women coming from the Dadar station to the market. She would then board a bus from the Plaza to Chembur and take advantage of the crowd on the bus. Mostly she targeted women and never threw the stolen purses, said an officer.

Shaikh’s activities came to light when Sanjay Chunchikurve, a Shahunagar resident, on April 10, complained about the theft of his wife’s purse on a BEST bus. He alleged that when his wife got off the bus at Sion, she received a message that a sum of ₹49,000 had been debited from her account. The police found that the first transaction was made from an ATM in Sion at 11:04am on April 10, and the last one was made at 11:47am near Mankhurd. “Seven transactions were made by Shaikh at different ATMs. She used the password which was written on the card itself,” said. CCTV cameras inside ATMs captured Shaikh and the police traced the route she used to withdraw cash and found her.