Mumbai Crime: Train pole thief arrested day after injuring student

The Borivli Railway police have arrested a 20-year-old signal pole thief, Deepak Bhodkar, who had hit a 23-year-old student, Shakti Pillay, while he was travelling on a local train between Goregaon and Ram Mandir on Monday morning.

Pillay had fallen on the tracks due to the blow he received and was badly injured. He is still battling for life at Kandivli's Shatabdi hospital.

An officer privy to the investigation said that Bodkar is a history sheeter against whom robbery cases have been registered at Bangur Nagar and Goregaon police stations.

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"Bodkar, a resident of Goregaon East, has been committing such offences for the past three years," said an GRP official on Wednesday.

Pillay, a student of BMM in a college in Andheri, was hit so hard that he fell off the moving train. Following this, Bodkar scaled down the signal pole, inched close to Pillay and grabbed his mobile phone that was lying nearby.

He also tried to snatch Pillay's bag but the youngster resisted. Bhodkar then grabbed a stone and hit Pillay on the head with it.

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Hearing the commotion, a man rushed to Pillay's rescue but by the time Bodkar had escaped with the mobile phone leaving Pillay bleeding between the tracks. The rescuer alerted the railway officials who rushed Pillay to Shatabdi hospital in Kandivli.

The cops then scanned CCTV footage and arrested the accused. They have recovered 10 mobile phones from his possession.

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