KANPUR: The Government Railway Police (GRP) and Railway Protection Force (RPF) on Sunday claimed to have arrested an MBA graduate on charges of stealing bags containing cash and valuables of passengers of Dibrugarh-Rajdhani Express.
Police said Akshay Saxena of HAL colony in Kanpur’s Ramadevi Chakeri area used to travel on reserved berth in the VIP train to carry out the thefts of backpacks and trolley-bags of passengers after they slept during the overnight journey.
Circle Officer GRP Qamrul Hasan said, “He was arrested from the city side platform on Saturday.”
“There has been a major rise in theft cases in Dibrugarh-Rajdhani train these days. Subsequently, a joint team of GRP and RPF was constituted and investigation was initiated. As part of the drive, we started monitoring all those who de-boarded the coaches of the train on arrival at Kanpur Central through CCTV,” the CO said.
During monitoring we found a man alighting from the train several times. “Each time he de-boarded the train he had a different trolley bag in his hand. After suspicion, he was identified from the CCTV footage. The passengers who made the complaint also identified him,” said the CO.
He said the GRP team then laid a trap and on the morning of September 11 they arrested Saxena.
During interrogation, he made shocking revelations.
“He said that he usually used to board Dibrugarh-Rajdhani Express and travel from Kishanganj in Bihar after procuring a reservation ticket. During the journey, he used to roam around in other coaches. After midnight, when most of the passengers used to sleep, he would pick up their bags and get down as soon as the train arrived at Kanpur Central. A large number of trolley-bags and backpack bags were recovered from his house. He has been booked under relevant sections of IPC and sent to jail,” said the official further.
The police said passengers should remain extra cautious about their belongings as thieves seem to have switched over to a different modus operandi in VIP trains.
