23-year-old held for assaulting ticket checker at Virar station

The alleged assailant, Aditya Praveen Pawar (kneeling), in police custody

A 23-year-old man has been arrested by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) for allegedly assaulting a ticket checker at Virar railway station after being caught travelling without a ticket. The accused, Aditya Praveen Pawar, was apprehended at Borivli railway station premises two days after the case was registered.

According to a senior RPF official, "The incident took place on February 1 at Virar station, where an unidentified outsider allegedly attacked on-duty ticket checker Birju Singh Tanwar. A case was subsequently registered by the Government Railway Police (GRP), Vasai Road, under Sections 121(2) and 132 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) on February 3."

"Following the complaint, the Crime Prevention and Detection Squad of the Virar RPF launched an investigation to trace the accused. Head Constable Kailash Jadhav and Constable Rakesh Tanwar were tasked with identifying the suspect using CCTV footage and the facial recognition system," an official said.

According to a senior RFP officer, Pawar, a Virar East resident, was taken into custody and brought to the RPF post for interrogation after he was spotted in Borivli. During questioning by Police Sub-Inspector Devendra Kumar, Pawar confessed to assaulting Tanwar after being confronted about ticketless travelling."