Mumbai man jumps off train to catch phone thief, run over by local

MUMBAI: A 52-year-old Goregaon resident fell to his death while chasing a thief who had entered a local train and snatched his cellphone at Charni Road station on Sunday morning.
The incident took place when the Churchgate-bound slow train had reached Charni Road station around 6.45am. Shakil Shaikh, who worked as a chauffeur with the Taj group of hotels, was in the train with a few colleagues when the unidentified man walked into the second class compartment.

“Before Shaikh or any of his colleagues even realised it, the man grabbed Shaikh’s mobile phone from his hand.” said his relative Preetesh Tripathi.
Caught unawares, Shaikh was quick to react and jumped off the moving train to nab the thief. “But he [Shaikh] fell from the edlge of the platform at the Marine Lineend of the station after losing his balance. He was run over by the same train,” said Tripathi.
Shaikh was found lying on the track with multiple injuries and bleeding profusely and died on the spot. Shaikh is survived by his wife and two sons.
Tripathi expressed surprise that a thief could have entered the train so easily and robbed a phone in the presence of so many commuters during the day Senior divisional security commissioner S R Gandhi said that they have identified at least three suspects on the basis of the footage from closed circuit television cameras at the station. “The thief ’s face has been captured on camera. So far, we have not detained anyone,” said Gandhi.
The case is being investigated jointly by officials from the Railway Protection Force and the Government Railway Police.
Gandhi has urged commuters to avoid chasing criminals on the platform. “Ideally, people should get down at the station and report the matter to the police station which has jurisdiction over the spot where the crime took place,” said Gandhi.
Tripathi said that a few other railway commuters claimed that a similar incident had taken place at Charni Road station two days ago. “So, clearly, it seems that this station is vulnerable for such types of theft,” he said.
Gandhi, however, refuted the claim. “This is the first incident reported at Charni in the past months,” he said.