Rail passengers, who enjoy a nap after locking their luggage with a chain, beware. For, the railway police have recently busted a group of cons which used to lift bags and snatch chains of travellers in trains after posing co-passengers. The police say the group has been active for the past three years.

According to the Vasai police, recently there has been an increase in the cases of bag lifting and chain snatching in the trains, and many cases were registered with them. Following this, Senior Police Inspector Namankit More and Inspector Ramesh Pawar of the Government Railway Police (GRP), along with a team, laid a trap in a Bangalore-Ajmer passenger train on January 16.

When the train stopped at Vasai station, a person alighted with a bag. “But his actions were doubtful. When police quizzed him, he couldn’t give a satisfactory reply. When his bag was searched, policemen found a big cutter, two screwdrivers and a nail cutter in it. He was then brought to Vasai police station where he confessed to his crime. He admitted he was involved with his gang in six separate cases,” More said. He was later identified as Ashok Madan Lal Verma (36).

The railway police also recovered 300 gm gold jewellery worth around Rs 4 lakh from him.

Apart from Verma, three more accused were arrested:  Kanwar Singh Bhimsingh Jat (56), Raju Limba Khainar (30) and Sandeep Wankhede (19). Wankhede was not present on that train but was arrested later from Bhiwandi.

The gang was active in main line trains, and got down at Vasai and Virar stations after committed crimes at night.

“One more accused is yet to be nabbed. These four accused were produced before a railway court at Vasai station and the court ordered police remand for them till February 4,” More said, adding that all the accused were handed over to Crime Branch of Bhayandar railway police station.

On the modus operandi of the gang, More said: “These accused booked tickets and befriended their co-passengers. They wore good clothes and carried costly bags, so that nobody suspected them for being thieves. Then, as passengers fell asleep, they would cut the chains with which passengers’ secured their bags. They would also cut gold chains of sleeping women before getting off.” More added that the accused have been doing this for the past 10 years, on different railway routes.