Theft in train

NEW DELHI, November 7, 2012

Couple held for looting train passengers

STAFF REPORTER

Police recover two diamond bangles, two mobile phones

A 31-year-old man and his post-graduate woman accomplice have been arrested for allegedly travelling in air-conditioned train coaches as a couple and stealing cash and valuables of co-passengers.

Two stolen diamond bangles worth over Rs.6 lakh, two mobile phones and an i-pad have been recovered, said the police.

A woman lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police on October 30 saying that her bag containing two diamond bangles, an i-pad, a mobile phone, three plastic cards and some cash was stolen while she was travelling in an air-conditioned coach on the Pooja Express from Ludhiana to Jaipur. She noticed the theft at Old Delhi railway station.

Taking up investigation, a team under the supervision of Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Railways) Sanjay Bhatia checked the credentials of the victim’s co-passengers and found that one of the tickets was booked online under the Tatkal quota. Agent Ravi, who booked the ticket, told the police that one Ahmed Raza had bought the ticket from him. The agent further told the police that Ahmed, a resident of Shastri Park, had purchased 28 tickets from him during the past three months and mostly travelled in air-conditioned coaches to Jhansi, Jammu, Ratlam, Bhopal and Jaipur from Hazart Nizamuddin. The police found that he was always accompanied by a woman named Parveen or Yasmeen and most of the visits were made without any specific purpose.

Acting on a tip-off, the police arrested the duo, identified as Ahmed Raza and Moni Singh (23), at the New Delhi railway station on November 1 while they were trying to board a train to Jammu.

The two purportedly told the police that they would travel in air-conditioned coaches as the passengers usually carried valuables and cash. The two mostly targeted women, the police said.

Moni, a resident of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, used to deposit her share in a bank account in Lucknow. Ahmed has recently purchased a flat in Shastri Nagar for Rs.7 lakh.