19-year-old student helps government railway police nab thief

A 19-year-old college student helped the government railway police (GRP) nab a man who had snatched her Blackberry mobile. The accused wanted money in return for her phone.

Mumbra resident Deepika Patel, 19, a first-year BA student, boarded the CST-bound local on Sunday at around 12.30pm to meet her colleague in Ghatkopar.

At Vikhroli station, as she stood near the door speaking to her colleague on the phone, a man hiding behind a railway pole hit her hand with a stick. Her phone slipped and fell off the train, and the man grabbed it.

When the train reached Ghatkopar, she narrated the incident to GRP personnel, who took her to Kurla railway police station. There she called her number from another phone in the presence of GRP personnel. The thief picked up, and demanded Rs4,000 in return for her mobile. She agreed to pay him, and he then told her to meet near the church outside Vikhroli railway station (west) at 4pm with the money.

The GRP personnel laid a trap outside the station, and nabbed the man while accepting money from the victim.
“20 year-old Mohan Shetty, resident of Kanjurmarg, was booked for robbery, and we recovered a stolen Blackberry mobile from him,” said Shivaji Dhumal, senior police inspector of Kurla railway police station.