Four rob train passengers to fund pilgrimage, arrested

They had a good intention but the means they chose was wrong. Four youths, who allegedly robbed railway passengers to visit Rajasthan’s Ajmer Sharif dargah, were arrested on Wednesday for assaulting and robbing railway passengers.

In the early hours of May 16, the four ambushed two passengers with knives and robbed them of Rs22,000 and three cell phones near Kurla station, said the police.

The main accused, Abdul Sheikh, 20, has been sent to police custody. His three accomplices, all minors, have been sent to an observation home in Dongri. The four are residents of Bengalipura area in Antop Hill. “We have recovered Rs2,000, a knife and one mobile phone,” said sub-inspector Sushant Bandgar.

During interrogation, Sheikh told the police that he and his friends wanted to visit the Ajmer Sharif dargah, said the officer. “Since they did not have the money, they hatched a plan to rob passengers at Kurla terminus.

Sheikh had told his friends that it would be easy to rob jaded passengers disembarking from long-distance trains and they would easily hand over their valuables if threatened with a knife, said the officer. The four had targeted Andheri residents Manish Koundrama, 22, and Jishen Puri, 24, around 5.30am.

Soon after, they four visited the Ajmer Sharif dargah. After they returned to the city,  one of Sheikh’s friends started using one of the stolen cell phones which was being tracked by the police. The police caught hold of this friend, said the police. It was he who led them to Sheikh, leading to the arrest of the four.