Commuter’s close encounter with death after attack by ‘pole thief’

A 27-year-old man was injured while he was standing at the edge of the footboard train and talking on the phone when a thief hanging from a pole hit him with a bamboo. Though he could save his phone, the impact left bruises on his chest. The railway authority state that a plan is in the pipeline to address such incidents and it has become a regular phenomenon on Virar-bound trains.

The incident took place when the victim, Vishal Mehta, was returning home after completing his field assignment. “I was returning home in a BandraBorivali local slow train. I was on a call when the train was between Khar and Vile Parle stations. I was standing at the edge when suddenly felt a huge throb on my chest and I almost fell on the floor. Then a passenger pulled me or else I would have fallen outside on the track,” said Mehta.

He added that he saw a man hanging from a nearby pole and was holding a bamboo. “I could not breathe for some time as I was extremely scared. Then my fellow passengers told me that such pole robbery has become a common incident on the western side,” added Mehta.

According to GRP, mobile snatching has become an easy and lucrative crime and the number of people involved in it is rising at a fast rate. “They work in a gang and one member of the gang would sit on a pole near track who hits the victims while another would be sitting near the track to quickly pick up the phone fallen on track. If any person is found guilty of this act, he can be punished under Section 379 of Indian Penal Code or fine or both,” said GRP official.

A senior railway official said they have passed instructions to all Government Railway Police (GRP) stations to register and investigate all cases of crime on the suburban trains on a priority basis without troubling the victims.

It is not the first time that such an incident has been reported on the route to Virar. Around 21,000 cases of mobile thefts were registered across the suburban railway network of the city in 2017.

A 27-year-old man was injured while he was standing at the edge of the footboard train and talking on the phone when a thief hanging from a pole hit him with a bamboo. Such incidents have become a regular phenomenon on Virar-bound trains