A gang of menace-makers on WR route is targeting unsuspecting commuters, fleeing with their bags and replacing it with that of others
Beware! Don't leave your bag unattended on Western Railway trains
An unusual gang of bag thieves has local train commuters at their wits’ end. Their targets: unsuspecting commuters, who place their bags on the luggage rack of the train compartments.
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According to the GRP, the gang appears to carry a bag with them, which they leave alongside that of other commuters. When the train halts at a station, they lift somebody else’s bag, and rush out. They then take away any valuable items from the bag, and head to their next target.
The incident came to light after three people travelling on the WR route reported that they had lost their bags.
In the first case, Santosh Palvankar, a senior photojournalist, was heading home to Naigaon from Churchgate, when his bag was stolen. He left his bag on the luggage rack and fell asleep. When he woke up at Bandra station, he realised that his bag had been replaced with somebody else’s.
“I thought that the person must have mistakenly taken my bag, so I searched it for any contact details. I found a PAN card listed under the name of one Jaybhay Kailash. My wife managed to trace the person on Facebook,” said Palvankar, adding that after getting in touch with Kailash, they returned the bag to him, but didn’t get their own bag in return. However, at midnight Palvankar received a call from the station master at Churchgate, who told him that they had found his bag.
Kailash and one Dastgir Shaikhji also lost their bag in a similar fashion. When contacted, Shaikhji said his bag was stolen when he was busy talking on the cellphone. “Though I found my bag, the iPod was missing,” he said.
Deepak Devraj, DCP, GRP, said, “It’s a serious issue. We are looking into the matter.”
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