21-year-old ‘fatka’ gang leader who robbed Mumbai commuters of phones gets 3 years in jail

The 21-year-old leader of a ‘fatka’ gang arrested by the Bandra Government Railway Police (GRP) in December was sentenced to three years in jail on Monday.

The Bandra GRP officers said that after the arrest of Faizal Jahid Hussein Shaikh (21), his gang members have also disappeared and fatka gang crimes have come down to an extent. According to Bandra GRP officers, Shaikh had more than 13 cases against him in different police stations across the Mumbai Suburban railway line. Shaikh was arrested by Bandra GRP on December 7, 2017 for robbing a mobile phone worth Rs43,000.

Aimed to rob passengers of their mobile phones, fatka refers to a rap on passengers standing on the footboard.

The officers said that on December 4,2017, Nikhilesh Ravinarayan Nishad, a resident of Santacruz, was standing on the footboard of a Churchgate-bound train at 4.35pm when Shaikh, who hiding behind an electric pole between Khar and Bandra stations, hit Nishad’s hand. Nishad, who was holding his mobile phone in his hand, dropped it due to the sudden jolt. Shaikh’s henchman, who was standing on the tracks in position, then picked up the mobile phone and fled into the mangroves. Nishad approached the Bandra GRP and registered a complaint.“After investigations we arrested Shaikh from his house in Bandra (East) and also recovered the robbed mobile phone that belonged to Nishad,” said Sunilkumar Jadhav, senior police inspector of Bandra GRP.

Jadhav said that after the arrest of Shaikh they had begun a drive against fatka gang members in their jurisdiction and arrested some members of Shaikh’s gang, who turned out to be minors. “Shaikh has told us that he had been doing this since he was 17 years old and then over the years made his own gang, which included four other members of 16 to 17 years of age,” said Jadhav.

Shaikh also told the police that he committed these crimes as he wanted money for drugs. “He used to rob around four to five mobiles phones in a day and sell them for Rs 500 to 1,000 to whoever was ready to buy the phone on the spot and give him cash,” said Jadhav.