Robbers held for extorting money after posing as TCs

The Manmad Government Railway Police (GRP) have arrested a trio for extorting money from passengers at knifepoint near Manmad. The robberies occurred on a long-distance train on Monday. The trio posed as ticket checkers and demanded money from passengers for not producing printed train tickets.

The incident took place on Monday between Kalyan and Kasara stations after three men boarded the Patliputra Express train.

"The three men first posed as ticket checkers and later demanded money from passengers seated in a general coach for not producing printed train tickets. The passengers had etickets on their mobile phones," said a GRP official from Kalyan.

One accused terrorised a passenger by holding him at knifepoint and the other two raised their voice and forcibly tried to grab the passenger’s wallet.

"The accused demanded Rs500 from each of the passengers. The passengers were terrified after the trio held them at knifepoint and threatened to kill them if they refused to give them the money,” added the official.

A total of Rs1,450 was extorted from the three passengers in a moving train. One passenger who witnessed the entire incident inside the train informed the Divisional Control Room of Railway Protection Force (RPF) and a team of RPF boarded the train at Manmad and arrested them.

The three accused have been identified as Imran Sheikh (21), Akash Jadhav (21) and Pravin Deore (21). Sheikh is a resident of Bhiwandi and the other two accused are residents of Ulhasnagar.

“Sheikh works in a handloom unit in Bhiwandi and the other two accused Jadhav and Deore are construction labourers,” said the official.

The case was first registered at Manmad GRP and later transferred to Kalyan GRP. The three accused were arrested under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 393 for attempting to commit robbery and section 334 for voluntarily causing hurt on provocation.