40-year-old woman held for thefts on local trains
MUMBAI: The Government Railway Police (GRP) on Wednesday arrested a 40-year-old woman for allegedly robbing a woman’s purse on a local train.
On questioning her about her expensive jewellery and clothes, they found she had stolen more items from commuters.
The accused has been identified as Anita Pawar, a resident of Airoli in Navi Mumbai. According to the police, GRP officers Jotsana Dalvi, Manisha Aljende and Mayala Gavit were posted at Dadar station when they saw Pawar stealing a commuter’s purse. They intercepted her and recovered the purse with ₹1,000 inside. Prasad Pandhare, senior police inspector of Dadar GRP said the officers, part of the Nirbhya squad routinely kept a check on pickpocketing and other theft in women’s compartments.
“Most of the thefts take place when a commuter boards or alights the train. The robbers need just 10 seconds to unzip a lady’s purse and rob the contents,” said Pandhare.
According to Pandhare, the police asked Pawar whether she had documents to prove that she owned the jewellery she was wearing. Since she did not, the police searched her house and found unaccounted jewellery worth ₹5.27 lakh. “We found that two jewellery pieces she had were robbed from commuters in Dadar,” said Pandhare.
Pawar told the police she had been robbing purses and gold chains from Kalyan to Kurla for the past few years.