Man held for posing as railway staff, conning passengers

MUMBAI: A 31-year-old man was arrested for posing as a railway official and conning passengers on the Western Railway. Piyush Sharma was taken into custody on September 12 after RPF personnel scanned CCTV footages at the Borivali ticket booking office and found his behaviour to be suspicious.

Sharma is a resident of Vidyamandir Marg at Vasai West. "When we detained him at the Borivali ticket booking office and inquired what he was up to, Sharma couldn't give any satisfactory answers. He was brought to the RPF outpost. CCTV footage of Borivali station of August 21 showed that the same man had knocked off money from a woman passenger named Manisha. She was called to the RPF outpost and she confirmed that he had taken nearly Rs 14,000 from her," said an official.

Further investigation showed he had knocked off Rs 2,900 from from another woman passenger, Jharna Dubey, at Bhayander on September 5. Dubey also identified him. "On interrogation, he admitted to pocketing Rs 1,650 collectively from two other passengers. He has been booked on charges of cheating and impersonation under the IPC. He was handed over to Borivali city police station as the ticket booking office is in their jurisdiction," the official added.