THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Jan 2: The Kerala Railway police have arrested an ex-serviceman, Sankardas Chowdari, 48, on charges of robbing fellow passengers on trains.According to Railway Police, Chowdari was involved in several cases of robbery in air-conditioned coaches of trains. His modus operandi was to escape with fellow passengers' luggage while the latter were asleep.
Though he had been nabbed a couple of times earlier, the impeccably-dressed man managed to get away scotfree most of the time. The accused is a native of West Bengal, now settled at Eloor in Andhra Pradesh.
He was arrested following a complaint filed by Lakshmi Viswanath, a Madras-based dancer, who travelled to Kochi from Madras by rail on December 10. Lakshmi Viswanath was robbed of valuables, including gold ornaments and dress, worth Rs 63,000 during the travel. Following a complaint filed by Lakshmi, police swung into action and nabbed Chowdhuri.
The accused admitted to police that he had robbed one Sivaramakrishnan of Rs 10,000
while travelling from Madras to Mangalore in an AC coach on October 22. Police are continuing investigations into several thefts allegedly committed by Chowdari, who is also known as `AC Chowdari'. He admitted to the police team, which included Railway SP Tomin J Thachankary, CI Sankaranarayanan and SI Vijayakumar, that he had robbed passengers in almost all parts of the country.
Police said that Chowdari had lent lakhs of rupees, robbed from passengers, to various persons in Eloor.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
