Two UP men held for thefts in trains; 16 cases solved, valuables worth Rs 22 lakh seized

Thane, Sep 4 (PTI) Two persons have been arrested for allegedly stealing valuables worth Rs 22.24 lakh from passengers of long-distance trains between Thane, Kalyan and Karjat, railway police officials said on Thursday.

The accused have been identified as Waqar Alam Tauqir Khan (39) and Jugal Kishore Omprakash Sharma (41) from Ghazipur and Kanpur, respectively, in Uttar Pradesh, the Kalyan railway police official said.

"The duo, posing as passengers, targeted sleeping travelers at night, stealing cash, jewellery and valuables, before fleeing at halts or when the trains slowed down at stations like Karjat, Thane or Kalyan. We have seized gold ornaments weighing 316 grams and Rs 72,000 cash," he said.

The probe began in May when a passenger of the Coimbatore-Rajkot Express was robbed of jewellery and cash worth Rs 3.6 lakh, following which an FIR was registered at Kalyan railway police station.

"CCTV footage from multiple railway stations and records of past thefts suggested the crimes bore a similar modus operandi, pointing towards a single gang. Acting on a tip-off, senior inspector Vijay Khedkar and his team kept watch at Kalyan railway station, leading to Khan and Sharma getting apprehended," the official said.

The duo has confessed to 16 thefts, comprising eight under Kalyan railway police station limits, four in Thane, three in Karjat, and one in Dombivli, he added. PTI COR BNM