25 April,2016 03:55 PM IST | | A Correspondent
The duo snatched an iPhone at Mahim station and were attempting to flee, when an officer saw their suspicious behaviour and nabbed them
Dinesh Gopalkumar Sawariya and Sameer Shaikh
The observation skills of an Anti-Terrorism Cell (ATC) officer stopped two people, accused of stealing an iPhone from a local train commuter, escape with it from Mahim station. Also, with their arrest many other cases of theft and robbery came to light.
Dinesh Gopalkumar Sawariya
How it happened
Mahim resident Faroqi Shoaib's (32) iPhone was stolen at Mahim station. "He was keeping his phone in his pocket while boarding the train, when someone hit his hand, which made him lose his grip on the phone. When he dropped it at the platform, he could not get off the train as it had picked up speed, but he saw two men take his phone," said a Mumbai Central GRP official, while adding that the phone was worth Rs 36,000.
When the accused were trying to flee from Mahim station, an assistant police inspector from Bandra, Sandeep Shinde, and his ATC staff called them out on finding them suspicious. "When I called them, they got scared and started running away. We ran after them and caught them after a 15-minute chase. On frisking them, we found an iPhone and when we asked them about it they admitted to have robbed it from a train commuter," Shinde said.
Sameer Shaikh
Meanwhile, Shoaib had deboarded the train at Bandra station and gone to Dadar GRP. Sometime after he narrated the incident, he received a call on his other mobile from Shinde, who called him to tell him that they had found his phone.
Shinde said the phone was password protected but when he called the emergency number, his wife answered the call and gave the cop her husband's alternate phone number.
When Shoaib identified his phone and the accused, a robbery case was registered against the two. They were later identified as Dinesh Gopalkumar Sawariya (22), from Mahim, and Sameer Shaikh (26) from Mira Road. "The case and the accused were then handed over to Mumbai Central GRP as the place of incident falls in their jurisdiction," Shinde said.
A Mumbai Central GRP official said the two are repeat offenders and were wanted in similar cases.
