Mumbai: Touched by a thief's story, cops help his family get closure

A known chain-snatcher told police he had left his criminal past to support his family after his brother went missing; probing his claim led railway cops to find out that the missing brother had died in a road accident a year ago

The Borivli GRP, touched by a young train thief's story that he had turned over a new leaf after his elder brother went missing a year ago, went the extra mile to help try and trace him. They quickly formed a special team and took just six hours to find out what had happened.

During a recent drive to keep a check on on-record criminals, the Borivli GRP summoned a 20-year old chain-snatcher Rakesh Chaudhary to update their records on his activities. He told the cops that he had left behind his criminal past and had been helping his family earn a livelihood ever since his elder brother went missing.

The police then cross-checked his claims and found that he was not bluffing. Impressed, the cops then decided to do something for Solanki in return for his changed ways. They formed a special team and cracked the missing complaint in under six hours. Sadly, it turned out that the brother, Rajesh, had died in an accident almost a year ago.

Rajesh, who died in an accident

Chaudhary, the police said, is a resident of Poisar in Borivli, and had been involved in a series of mobile and chain thefts on local trains. He lives with his parents. His elder brother used to work in an imitation jewellery unit.

"Moved by Chaudhary's attempt to live a clean life and help out his parents, we decided to help him track down his brother,' said Sujata Patil, assistant commissioner of police (Western Railway GRP)

Investigations
A team from Borivli GRP checked the records of Samata Nagar police and found that there was a missing person complaint registered by the Chaudharys in August 2018. The team then took down the minutest details of the missing person, Rajesh Chaudhary, 27. Next, the team was deputed to check the records of unclaimed bodies on railway tracks.
After a rigorous search of almost three to four hours and browsing through details of hundreds of dead bodies, the investigators zeroed in on one of the bodies that matched Chaudhary's description.

"The family had told us that there was a tattoo of a trishul on one of his hands, which one of the bodies did have. We then showed the photographs of the deceased person to the Chaudharys," added an officer.

"A case that was pending for the past one year was cracked in the record time of just six-seven hours. At least the family will now not live in false hope and Rakesh, too, will be more responsible towards his family," Patil said.

The team that cracked the case was headed by police inspector R Nikam, constables MK Mohite, GN Tadvi, PN Kumbhare and PC Pedhnekar. They began searching through records of unidentified dead bodies and discovered that Chaudhary's dead body had been found by the Borivli GRP on August 6, 2018, said a GRP officer.

Father says
Lallan Chaudhary, Rakesh's father said he had gone several times to Samata Nagar police station to find out about his missing son. "We had filed the missing person case on August 5. Two months later, the police told me that they had located Rajesh's mobile phone.

They said when they called the person who had the phone to the police station he said he had found it lying on the tracks. I had wanted to speak to the man so that I could go back and trace the sequence of events, but every time I approached the cops investigating the missing person complaints, they said they were still working on the case. They made me run around for a whole year. I don't think they did any more work after the phone was found."

He added, 'We would have known a year back what had happened to Rajesh, instead of living in hope. I am extremely grateful to the Borivli GRP for finding out what happened to my son.'

Also Read: Woman fights stalker in elevator in Dahisar, prevents chain snatching

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