She took local train passengers for a ride

The Shivaji Park police on Thursday arrested Sadia Nayeem Khan, a con who used to make friends with co-passengers while traveling in local trains, get herself invited to their homes, and then rob them.

“We arrested Sadia Nayeem Khan, 42, a resident of Nalasopara, under Section 380 (theft in a dwelling house) of the IPC on Thursday. She was remanded to police custody till March 23 by the court on Friday,” senior police inspector Vilas Gurav, of Shivaji Park police, said. The police are, however, yet to recover the stolen valuables.

On February 12, Suresh Gupte, 72, a resident of Lokhandwala complex in Kandivali (East), organised a party for friends where one of his friends, Meeta Shetye, 36 (name changed), brought along a woman called Deepika Rathod, 42. Later, while the guests were busy eating and drinking, Rathod made off with Rs8,700 in cash, and a gold ring and gold chain worth Rs43,000, police inspector Vinay Kulkarni said.

Hesitant to file a police complaint at first, Gupte did so only on February 27, and Shetye let on how she had met Rathod on the train, and also provided two mobile numbers for her. Investigations showed that Rathod’s real name was Sadia Khan. The police tracked her down after they traced her daughter to a Vasai college from the mobile phone records.