Maharashtra: Railway cops use social media honeytrap to nab phone thief

MUMBAI: A 17-year-old boy from Vasai who had fled to his hometown in Uttar Pradesh after stealing a mobile phone from a train commuter was honey-trapped by the railway police and detained recently. The boy, whose identity has been withheld as he is a minor, has four other cases of theft registered against him in the past.
The latest instance was reported on August 4 in the Pune-Jaipur Express. A commuter, Rajkumar Meena, was occupying a window seat. While he was checking his phone and the train had started moving from Vasai station, someone slid his hand under the window and snatched the handset. Meena registered a complaint with Vasai Government Railway Police (GRP).
Police tracked the stolen phone with its IMEI number and traced its location to a youngster living in Vasai (East). The 17-year-old told the police that he had borrowed the phone from his friend, who was the same age as him, since his handset was damaged.
The police then started looking for his friend but learnt that he had slipped out of town. “We gathered that the phone was stolen by his friend. But we did not know where he was hiding,” said a Vasai GRP officer.
The police then found out that the accused had an account on Instagram. One of the GRP constables created a fake Instagram account in a woman’s name and uploaded a random display picture of a woman that he got off the internet.
The constable sent the accused several direct messages. He responded and the two began to chat frequently. Once they grew close, the constable — who was posing as a woman — inquired where the boy was put up. The accused replied that he was in Uttar Pradesh.
“The constable called him to a garden in Nalasopara for a date. When the accused turned up on October 22, we detained him,” said an officer. As the boy is underage, he has been sent to an observation home in Bhiwandi.
The accused started his criminal career in 2019. The first case of theft was registered in 2019 and three more cases were registered earlier this year.