Mumbai: Actor turns sleuth, records video of thieves who stole teen's phone

A small-time film actor turned real hero for a 17-year-old girl, whose phone was stolen by mobile snatchers. The incident occurred at Jogeshwari railway station, when the victim Pranali Bandekar was heading towards her house in Goregaon in a slow local train on Tuesday evening.

A video grab of the three accused from the footage recorded by Suubrat Pradhan

Suubrat Pradhan, the actor, followed the offenders, recorded a video and posted it on social media. According to the Andheri GRP, on Tuesday, when Bandekar was standing at the door of the local train, she had her phone in her hand. When the train started moving towards Borivli, a ma who was on the platform snatched the phone from her, following which Bandekar screamed.

Suubrat Pradhan recorded a video of the three accused while following them. (Left) Pranali Bandekar says that there were many people on the platform, but no one came forward to catch the thief

Pradhan heard her, and saw the three offenders (the person who had committed the theft and two accomplices) leaving the railway station, and taking refuge in a nearby slum. The actor followed the three culprits. When Pradhan saw the trio coming out of the slum, he started following them again.\

"I saw them removing the SIM card from the phone and throwing it away. Immediately I started recording a video of the trio on my phone. I was so close to them that I could hear their conversation," said Pradhan."Their faces were not clearly visible in the video, as I was behind them; therefore, I walked faster and passed them.

I stood on the road and recorded their faces, when they started coming towards the direction where I was standing," Pradhan added. "All three youths were busy talking to each other and headed towards Goregaon from S V Road," Pradhan said. Pradhan said that he was helping out a friend who works with Millat Hospital.

As his friend was on leave for a month, he was asked to handle the job. Pradhan also revealed that he was a struggling actor and has featured in several government advertisements and short films promoting social causes.

The incident
On the day of the crime, Bandekar had been heading back to her house in Goregaon from Andheri with her friend. She boarded a slow Virar train, which was overcrowded; she was forced her to stand at the door of the train.

When the train reached Jogeshwari, she had to get down due to the crowd. She again boarded the local and when the train began moving, the thief, who was on the platform, took the phone away from her hand. "It was my Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime phone, which I had held in my hand.

The moment the thief snatched the phone from my hand, the train had started moving and therefore I did not have a chance to nab him. There were many people on the platform, but no one came forward to catch the culprit," said Bandekar.

‘Scared'
"I was scared as the thief could have harmed me when he snatched the phone. When I reached home, I informed my mother and the next day, my mother and I approached the Andheri GRP and filed a complaint," added Bandekar. According to officials from the Andheri GRP, the complaint has been recorded and the hunt for the accused is on.