Robber held in Diva

Thane: A 19-year-old youth was arrested by two alert female constables for allegedly robbing a mobile from a railway commuter on Friday morning.
The accused, a resident of Vikhroli, had boarded a train for Kalyan from Thane station. Before he could board the train, the accused zeroed in on his victim and stood right next to him in the train.

The accused then managed to rob the mobile, which the victim had kept in his shoulder bag, and alighted from the train at Diva.

The accused was then trying to target his next victim but he ran out of luck when an on-duty lady constable M D Shakila accosted him. Finding his movements suspicious, the constable signalled her colleague Pratima Singh and the duo then started interrogating the accused. He then broke down and confessed to the crime.

In the meanwhile, the victim had approached the Diva railway police about the theft. The police recovered two mobile phones from the accused.

The cops have handed him over to the state railway police who have registered a case under Section 392 of the IPC. He was also produced before the railway court on Saturday and has been remanded to magistrate custody. A police official said that the accused was new to the area and used to target passengers trvelling on the Western line during peak hours.