Good trick

Thief nabbed by railway police after victim tricks him to return necklace

Nitasha Natu, TNN | Jul 5, 2012, 05.57PM IST

MUMBAI: A 32-year-old woman, whose necklace had been stolen by a thief at Byculla railway station earlier this month, used a trick to lure him to return it.

Reena Jain, the complainant, is a resident of Kalachowkie. Her husband runs a jewellery store. On June 7, Jain had gone to the ticket booking office at Byculla station to book a tatkal ticket to Rajasthan. In order to beat the queue, she reached the booking office around 2 am. There were a few other persons present at the booking office. Jain decided to take a nap close to the counter as it opened several hours later.

A 19-year-old youth, Altaf Qureshi, who had seen Jain dozing off, snatched her purse and began running away. Jain shouted for help but before anyone could react, Qureshi had vanished. "Jain remembered that her cellphone was inside the stolen purse. She begged another passenger to allow her to dial her number from his cellphone," a police official said.

Qureshi brazenly answered Jain's phone call. "Jain told him that an expensive looking necklace kept inside the purse was in fact imitation and he wouldn't make much money by selling it. She then added that she had kept some important documents in the purse and offered Qureshi a sum of Rs 1000 if he returned the purse to her. Qureshi agreed and the two decided to meet the next evening at Byculla," a police official said.

After speaking to Qureshi, Jain approached the Government Railway Police ( GRP) at CST. The police laid a trap and nabbed Qureshi when he came to Byculla to meet Jain. The stolen belongings were recovered from him.