Mumbai: Woman run over by local train in attempt to catch mobile thief

Deceased Vidya Patil

In an attempt to catch hold of a thief, who snatched her mobile phone on board a local near Kalwa railway station, a 35-year-old woman fell in the gap between the platform and train and got run over. The Thane Government Railway Police (GRP) have managed to arrest the thief, who has been remanded in police custody.

Deceased Vidya Patil was returning home from her office in Andheri when the incident happened. It was her first day of work after her six-month-long maternity leave. She is survived by her husband and three daughters.

On May 29 when the train reached near Kalwa around 7.30 pm, a man entered the woman's compartment, snatched Vidya's mobile phone and ran towards the door. Vidya ran behind him and caught him by the collar when he was about to jump on to the platform. In a bid to escape, the man pushed Vidya and she fell in the gap between the platform and train. While the thief managed to escape, Vidya got run over by the train. Later a post-mortem was conducted at Kalwa's Chhatrapati Shivaji Hospital.

The GRP at Thane registered an offence under sections 394 (theft) and 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC, and relevant sections of the Indian Railway Act 1989 against an unknown person and started investigating the case.

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Speaking to mid-day, Vidya's husband Dnyaneshwar Patil said, "She had called me when her train reached Thane station. That was the last time I heard from her. Who knew it would be the last conversation between us."

The cops recovered the CCTV footage from the railway station area and launched a manhunt. With the help of informers, they managed to establish the identity of the thief and picked him up from Bombay Colony, Mumbra. The thief has been identified as Fasial Jameel Ahmed Sheikh alias Fazeel, 31. He was arrested on May 30.

"We worked on the CCTV footage and alerted our informers about the suspect and managed to arrest him. He was produced in court on Monday. He has been sent to police custody till June 4. The accused has been previously booked for mobile thefts," said Nandkumar Khadkikar, senior inspector of Thane GRP.

Vidya's brother-in-law, Kamlakar Patil said, "When the common man has been barred from travelling on locals, then how do thieves manage to enter the stations? The accused is a resident of Mumbra and has committed a crime at Kalwa, which clearly shows that he has travelled by train. What are the cops and railway administration doing about it? Are thieves and hawkers hand in glove with the railway cops?"