58-year-old fights bag-snatcher, falls on railway tracks, survives

MUMBAI : A 24-year-old man who nearly killed a 58-year-old woman travelling on an express train last week, when he snatched her bag and tugged her down while jumping out from the moving coach, was arrested by Government Railway Police (GRP) on Sunday.

According to GRP, the robber, identified as Mukkadar Idrisi, spotted Pratibha Vijaykumar Tripathi, a resident of Andheri, sitting in S3 coach of the Udyaan Express to Bengaluru which departed at 8.10am from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) on August 22.

Idrisi, who had boarded another coach on the same train at CSMT, took advantage of the train’s slow speed as it headed towards Masjid Bunder to switch to the S3 coach when he spotted Tripathi keeping her phone inside her handbag, according to GRP deputy commissioner Purshottam Karad.

It was at 8.15am when Idrisi snatched Tripathi’s handbag and tried to jump out of the train. She, however, had not let go of her bag and was dragged to the exit door. Idrisi decided to give a sudden tug and lunged out of the train, pulling Tripathi down on the tracks. She made an attempt to get up but her hip and right hand were broken. “When she saw a Karjatbound train approaching from CSMT, she signalled for help,” Karad said.

“The motorman saw Tripathi lying on the tracks and stopped to help her. He dropped her off at Byculla from where she was rushed to JJ Hospital,” said Machindra Chavan, assistant commissioner of police, Central GRP. Varun Tripathi, her son who works for a private insurance company, said, “She has been through a few operations and now her condition is stable.”

The GRP officers registered a case of attempt to murder and robbery, and on Sunday received a tip-off about Idrisi being outside JJ Hospital. The officers nabbed him and even recovered Tripathi’s mobile. They also recovered a second stolen mobile phone.