Central Railway RPF nabs main accused in Rs 9.64-lakh Jalgaon train theft

The Railway Protection Force RPF of Central Railway has solved a theft case within three days leading to the arrest of the key accused and uncovering his involvement in another major robberyThe incident occurred on September 20 aboard Train No 12167 Lokmanya Tilak Terminus LTTndashBanaras Express near Jalgaon where a woman passenger reported that her purse containing gold ornaments worth around Rs 3 lakh had been stolen A case was registered with GRP BhusavalJalgaonA special RPF team comprising assistant subinspectors and constables analysed technical evidence and human intelligence inputs leading to the arrest of the prime accused Mahesh Lingayat on September 23 just three days after the incident During interrogation Lingayat confessed and also admitted to another theft on Train No 12905 PorbandarndashShalimar Express on December 26 2024 where jewellery worth Rs 964 lakh was stolen That case too had been registered with GRP BhusavalJalgaonFollowing his statement the GRP assisted by the RPF recently arrested two more suspects Rajkumar Vishwakarma and Manoj Jadhav A case under Section 305C of the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita has been filed against all threeOfficers said the coordinated effort showcased sharp intelligence analysis effective use of surveillance technology and strong teamwork between the RPF and GRP enabling the swift detection of both casesCentral Railway urged passengers to remain vigilant about their belongings and to contact the railway helpline on 139 in case of any emergencylsquoIrsquom so thankfulrsquo Mumbai commuter gets lost iPhone back with help of railway copsPranay Bhagat is deeply grateful to the railway cops On December 6 he had lost a brand new iPhone on the train and was dejected by the thought that he would never get it back ldquoI had bought the new iPhone just last month and lost it in the train at CSMT on Saturday Since the phone was new I had not activated its safety mechanisms I tried to track it down but couldnrsquot at my level I had also filed a complaint with the railway police I am so happy that I did so because I got my device back Irsquom so thankful to the railway copsrdquo Bhagat saidHe was among thousands of Mumbai railway commuters many of them emotional and happy who had turned up at a huge gathering on Wednesday at the Police Grounds in Ghatkopar mdash the headquarters of the railway police department mdash where their mobile phones stolen on the cityrsquos local trains and stations were handed back to them after due verificationWrapped in a brown envelope in a plastic cover many opened the packets to find their phone intact ldquoOf course the data was gone but I got my phone back It has resale valuerdquo said Prathamesh KadamHow many phonesldquoIn total 1018 phones have been returned to their original owners after due verification Of these 444 were recovered from Mumbai itself 216 from Maharashtra and 358 from other states like Uttar Pradesh Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh The total estimated value of the phones recovered is Rs 18 crore Rs 18033668 Mumbai railway police commissioner M Rakesh Kalasagar told middayThese phones were recovered in the second phase of the operation between September and November 2025 stolen in the years 2023 2024 and 2025 Under the first phase in June and July 2025 a total of 684 mobile phones worth R11139626 were recovered and returned to their owners on July 25Teams involvedDuring this special campaign 28 teams from Central Railway and 29 from Western Railway mdash making a total of 57 teams mdash actively worked on this operation Through their efforts mobile phones stolen and taken across 17 states of India and in Union Territories such as Dadra and Nagar Haveli Daman and Diu were traced and recovered