30 October,2011 07:54 AM IST | | Shashank Rao
To prevent thieves from befriending unsuspecting passengers, railway police has purchased video cameras for major terminals in the Central line
After nabbing a gang of five that robbed long distance passengers, the Railway Police Force isn't taking any chances. Last week, they acquired eight video cameras to be used in major railway terminals along the Central line, to record videos of passengers in queue to buy tickets.
The five who were apprehended would befriend unsuspecting passengers standing in queue to buy tickets to the general compartment of outstation trains. On boarding the train, they would sit beside their victims and feed them food laced with drugs. They would then steal the personal belongings of their drugged victims. Eager to prevent such incidents from recurring, the RPF decided to videograph passengers standing in queues, especially in the four main terminals along the Central lineu00a0-- Dadar, CST, Kalyan and Kurla.
By capturing passengers on camera, the RPF hopes that their chances to nab such offenders will increase. The officials are keeping an eye, especially on trains heading to North Indian states.
"We hope to curb instances of drugging passengers by videographing passengers standing in queues, since their identity will then remain in our records," said PC Sinha, senior divisional security commissioner (Mumbai), Central Railway.
The recordings are stored in compact discs for easy reference.
