Fatka gang who hit six train commuters in 35 minutes on CR caught

Fatka gang members arrested after 13 days by GRP; confess to knocking phones off hands as they wanted to party

Six commuters on the Central Railway lost their cell phones to fatka gang members in 35 minutes — between 7.40 pm and 8.15 pm — on April 8. But thanks to the Local Crime Branch (LCB) of the Government Railway Police (GRP), all the phones were recovered after 13 days, on Sunday. Two youngsters were arrested by the LCB and they have confessed to their involvement in several other such cases.

Officials from the Kurla GRP said that on April 8, they received six back-to-back complaints of commuters being hit by fatka gang members, while they were travelling between Nahur and Mulund railway stations. The GRP formed a special team from the LCB while a parallel probe was initiated by the Kurla GRP. Based on intelligence and technological support, the two members of the fatka gang were arrested.

Also Read: Mumbai crime: Fatka gang nets six victims in two hours in Bandra

Stole to throw party

"Both of them belong to underprivileged families and are drug addicts. During interrogation, they have told us that they wanted to throw a party for friends, which is why they stole the cellphones. The collective value of the cell phones was R82,833," said Santosh Dhanawate, senior inspector GRP, LCB. The accused were identified as Tauseef Berry Ansari, 20, and Zafar Shaikh, 19, who are residents of Bandra. The police have recovered the six cell phones. "They had sold two cell phones to local hawkers and we have recovered those too," Dhanawate added.

More cases against accused

During interrogation the accused told the police that they are addicted to drugs and had been stealing commuters to buy narcotics. As per police records, the accused are involved in five more cases registered at Mumbai Central, Bandra and Andheri GRP. The commuters who were hit by the accused recalled that the impact of the assault was so severe that some of them lost balance while in some cases their hand became numb for hours.

Also Read: Mumbai: Undercover RPF personnel lay trap, catch fatka thief

Commuters speak

Praneet Pawar, 23, an accountant who boarded the general compartment of an overcrowded train at Kanjurmarg to reach Thane, said, "I was hit by a fatka gang member soon after the train left Nahur station. The pain was so severe that I lost the hold on my cell phone which fell."

A manager with a shipping logistic company, Shashikant Ghadge, 47, had also boarded the general compartment of an overcrowded train at Kurla to reach Thane. He said, "My hand started paining after the severe blow. A co-passenger helped me get inside the train, fearing that I may fall down."

Devanshi Majethia, a physiotherapist and Savrattan Rajpurohit, a Thane resident had the same experience. "The impact of the blow was so severe that my hand was paining for a day," said Majethia. "I felt severe pain in my hand, after which the cell phone slipped and fell," said Rajpurohit.

Rs 82,833
The collective value of the phones

Also Read: Mumbai: 23-year-old who almost lost leg after Fatka gang member's assault forgives him

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!