22-yr-old had caught one of the men stealing his phone in the train; when he demanded it back, the thief asked him to accompany him to Mumbra, where the gang assaulted him and fled
A youngster was brutally assaulted by a gang of phone thieves, after he caught one of the members nicking his mobile phone from his pocket in the train. After being caught, the thief told the victim he had passed on the phone to a friend and told him to accompany him to Mumbra.
Kurla GRP arrested Sameer Rafiq Shaikh (left) last week and Shabbir Bashir Ansari on Wednesday
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The crook then called other members of his gang, and the group thrashed the 22-year-old. The Kurla Government Railway Police (GRP), who were investigating the case, arrested two members from the gang last week.
According to the police, the incident occurred in May and the victim, Deepak Harad, was returning home from his workplace in Mulund. The accused, Ashraf, taking advantage of the crowd in the local, stole the victim’s mobile phone.
PSI Ramesh Sankpal from Kurla GRP said, “Harad works in a private firm at Mulund and was going back home. In the train, he caught Ashraf after he stole his cell phone. When the youth was caught red-handed, he told Harad that he had passed on the cellphone to an accomplice.”
Ashraf asked Harad to accompany him to Mumbra, where he could recover his phone. As Harad and the accused got down at Mumbra, Ashraf alerted his gang. “Ashraf called up Sameer Rafiq Shaikh, who, along with Shabbir Basir Ansari and Sultan, went to Mumbra station armed with choppers and hockey sticks. Ashraf had dropped a hint that he had been caught.
When the trio reached Mumbra, they assaulted Harad and escaped from the spot,” added Sankpal. The victim received cuts on the neck. Harad then reported the matter to the Dombivli police.
The case was transferred to Kurla GRP, as the incident took place at Mulund station, which is under their jurisdiction. With the assistance of local informers, police arrested Shaikh last week.
Ansari was picked up on Wednesday. “We even recovered three cellphones from the two accused. They revealed that they had used a similar modus operandi in other thefts as well, after getting caught,” said Sankpal.
The duo was booked under sections 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC. They were remanded in police custody.
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