Mumbai Crime: Robbers ready to kill for mobile phone at Borivli

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Two mobile phone thieves almost murdered a man in their desperation to get away after snatching a phone at Borivli railway station on Sunday. The Borivli GRP, after scouring CCTV footage at the station, finally tracked down and arrested the two men.

According to GRP sources, the incident took place on January 11 when the complainant, Shibi Uday Dholi, 25, along with his uncle Suraj Dholi, 42, were waiting for a train at Borivli station's platform No. 7. Both are residents of Surat. They were in the city visiting relatives and were on their way back to Gujarat that day. Suraj was playing a game on his mobile phone, when suddenly two unknown men come close to where they were sitting and one of them snatched the phone from Suraj's hand and jumped on the tracks to flee.

Shibi immediately jumped on the tracks after the snatcher. He finally managed to catch one of the robbers, but he turned around and started brutally assaulting Shibi. And, as the train rolled into the station, he even tried to fling Shibi under the train.

Although Shibi was hit by the train, he did not come under the wheels and fell on the opposite track. In the melee, the robbers fled with the phone. Suraj, too, had reached the spot by then and subsequently informed the GRP officials.

Suraj and the GRP rushed Shibi to Shatabdi hospital for treatment, Shibi was badly injured on his head and shoulder and was admitted to the ICU. He was later moved to the general ward as the injuries were not life-threatening. The GRP officials took down Shibi's statement and recorded his complaint against the two unknown accused. The GRP officials then scanned CCTV footage from the cameras installed on platform No. 6-7 and found both the accused on it. After searching for 10 days, the GRP cops, with the help of informers, traced the accused to Mira Road.

They have been identified as Parvez Shaikh and Arshad Shaikh, both aged 25. Investigations revealed that they were habitual offenders and had criminal records. The two have been booked under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 323 and 324 (causing hurt), 392 (robbery) and 34 (criminal acts by several persons) of the IPC. They were produced in court on Monday and remanded in police custody till January 25, said Senior Inspector Sanjay Patil from Borivli GRP.

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