Theft cases on rise at Hubballi railway station

HUBBALLI: If you are a train passenger travelling via Hubballi, then you must take care of yourself as cases of theft have increased at the Hubballi railway station. Although Hubballi is the headquarters of the South Western Railway, the railway station does not have adequate security measures.
According to complaints filed with the Government Railway Police, 13 theft cases have been reported from the Hubballi railway station in the last the one and half months.
In two of the cases, thieves boarded trains at the station and grabbed valuables from passengers within minutes and got away from the coach while the train was moving slowly at signal cabins and the yard area.
In an incident that occurred on April 11, Roopa Tamagond, 29, a resident of Bengaluru was robbed of her mobile phone, jewels worth of Rs 1.86 lakh and voter ID card. “I was travelling from Bengaluru to Badami by train number 16535 in a sleeper coach. I was sleeping when the train reached Hubballi in the wee hours. Around 3.50am, the train had just started to move from the station when someone pulled my vanity bag. I saw a youth, aged about 26, taking my bag and he disembarked from the slowly moving train and fled. When co-passengers tried to catch him, the train’s speed had increased,” she said.

In another case, Prashanth Manegol, 40, a resident of Ballari, lost jewels worth of Rs 1.32 lakh when the Managur-Kolhapur Express had stopped at the Outer signal of Hubballi station. “When my wife checked her vanity bag, the jewels were missing,” he added.
It may be recalled here that U R Arathi, a passenger was robbed of her ornaments in November 2017. Though she had chased the miscreant along with other passengers in the darkness, she could not catch him.
Amruth Joshi, a regular train traveller, said such cases are recurring at Hubballi station yard which is adjacent to Mantur Road. “SWR did not bother to remove the accessibility from the road nor did it put any security personnel to keep a vigil on the movement of suspicious persons. Apart from cases that have been reported, there are many other cases of stolen bags, purses, mobiles and other valuables which are going unregistered,” he said.
There are three cases in which railway staff and police constable themselves were victims of theft on the station premises.
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