11 February,2020 11:53 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
This picture has been used for representational purposes.
The Government Railway Police of Vasai Road arrested five persons, including two juveniles for allegedly stealing mobile phones of commuters by attacking them with sticks while climbing on poles along the tracks. Suspected to be a part of a fatka gang, the GRP recovered ten mobile phones from them, with selfies of them standing on the poles taken while committing the crime, Indian Express reported.
The police acted after repeated offences of the fatka gang being active between Diva and Vasai Road emerged. A Vasai Road GRP official said that the gang would attack commuters after the train leaves platform no. 1 and reached out 150 metres where it slows down for a curve.
The police got its first lead in this case after a resident spotted few individuals climbing the poles and took pictures of them jumping the tracks to leave the railway premises. Some police officers were deployed at the spot in plain clothes to catch them while committing the offence, who then arrested three men from the gang on February 5, identified as Rahul Rawat (19), Akash Batware (20) and Luv Vishwakarma (20).
After interrogating them, GRP also tracked down the two juveniles who were allegedly involved in the theft gang. According to the police, after the interrogation, it was found that among the five accused, everyone would go on the tracks to commit the offence except for Rawat. Vishwakarma and Batware would climb the poles whereas the juveniles would keep a watch. After stealing the mobile phones, they would get them to Rawat, to repair them, in case they are damaged.
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Batware, Vishwakarma and Rawat have been remanded to police custody for 12 days and the juveniles have been sent to the children's home, police said. GRP sources said that Senior Inspector Yashwant Nikam alongwith Vasai Road Assistant police inspector Darshan Patil used the stolen phones to traced their owners and also on a lookout for other complainants.
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