Mumbai: An Ayurvedic physician, who was standing in the passage of a
Harbour line local at Kurla, was looted of her cellphone by a man who barged into the ladies compartment and jumped out through the opposite end. Dr Akanksha Tripathi later found out that she was among seven victims of mobile phone theft that occurred in the Kurla harbour section in a span of four hours on Monday. The
GRP has registered a case of theft and are examining
CCTV footage of the station.
Tripathi (28) runs a clinic in Chembur. She took a bus to
Kurla station and boarded a train for GTB Nagar at 2.12pm. “A young man with a dishevelled appearance got into the ladies compartment where I was standing. I asked him what he wanted. He did not reply but walked towards the other door. As the train started to move with a jerk, he ran towards me, snatched my phone and jumped onto the tracks on the other side. It happened in a flash. Other commuters asked me why I did not raise an alarm but he was gone by the time I realised what had happened,” she told TOI.
She then went to the Kurla GRP outpost and was directed to the Wadala outpost which has jurisdiction over Kurla harbour section.
“Over the next two hours that I was at the police station, six other victims of mobile theft walked in. They had all been targeted on platforms 7/8 of Kurla. The male passengers had been pickpocketed as they entered the train while the female passengers had their phones snatched in the passage of the local. Later, a frequent commuter told me that the man who had looted my phone was seen on the same stretch for the past week and has been targeting other commuters. The police must act," said Tripathi.
A senior official from Wadala GRP outpost said the volume of passengers in the harbour section of Kurla was too heavy which led to high crime rates.
Representative Image
