Cops follow habitual thief, catch him in the act at Kurla station
MUMBAI: Officers of the Railway Protection Force (RPF), Kurla, on Monday, followed a 40-yearold history-sheeter from Kurla to Dadar and back to Kurla, before catching him while he was robbing a commuter’s phone.
Around 10am on Monday, two constables who were patrolling platform number five of Kurla station spotted Govandi resident Javed Mustaq Shaikh, who was been arrested thrice for theft this year. As Shaikh did not notice the cops, he boarded a train going towards Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT). The officers boarded the same train, but in a different compartment. Shaikh got off at Dadar, waited for some time, and boarded a train going towards Kalyan.
“On reaching Kurla at 11am, the constables noticed him trying to steal a mobile phone from a 22-year-old commuter’s bag on platform number five,” said Anil Kumar, senior inspector, RPF Kurla. The constables immediately caught Shaikh, he added.
On searching him, the constables found the mobile phone which belonged to the commuter, Gyan Singh, a Kandivli (West) resident. The constables handed over Shaikh to the Government Railway Police (GRP) at Kurla who arrested him for mobile theft.
“We needed to catch Shaikh while stealing to make it easier to prove his crime,” said Kumar.
Kumar added that as a part of the RPF’S efforts to prevent crimes on station premises, officers have been instructed to keep a strict watch on those with a criminal history.