The Railway Protection Force (RPF) has deployed decoy passengers on Rajdhani trains to sniff out a gang posing as travellers but suspected to be behind a series of thefts on-board the premium trains.
The RPF believes the thefts on August Kranti Rajdhani on Wednesday and on two Rajdhani trains earlier were carried out by thieves posing as passengers. The RPF has deployed its force as passengers to keep an eye on suspects, a senior Railway official said.
Armed RPF escorts
“The decoys will move around in trains listening to conversations and acting as passengers to get information,” the official said.
The decoys will travel on Mumbai-Delhi Rajdhani and August Kranti Rajdhani. Armed RPF escorts too have been deployed on these trains. Thefts on August Kranti on Wednesday and the two Rajdhani trains in August and in July took place between Ratlam and Kota stations. The RPF suspects that the thieves who stole valuables and cash worth ₹10 lakh to ₹15 lakh from 25 sleeping passengers on-board Mumbai-Delhi August Kranti may have followed a pattern. Digital footprints of passengers travelling on August Kranti are being scanned to see if any of them were on the Mumbai-Delhi Rajdhani on August 9, when three passengers complained of theft.