The 21-year-old was trying to steal a mobile from a commuter boarding a crowded train but was caught red-handed by a GRP official; although she escaped from lock-up, cops caught up with her in two days
A 21-year-old petty thief just had the worst luck in the world. Not only was she arrested after a failed attempt to steal a mobile phone, when she escaped the police lock-up the next day, she had all of two days of freedom before the cops caught up with her again.
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On Thursday evening, the thief, Usha Kale tried to steal a mobile phone from a commuter boarding a crowded Virar-bound train from Dadar station. Convinced the jostling crowd would help hide the crime, Kale quietly unzipped the commuter’s purse and sneaked out her phone worth Rs 25,000.
To her dismay, however, Kale had been spotted by a Government Railway Police (GRP) woman cop, and was arrested on the spot. Kale was taken to the Mumbai Central railway police station, where a case was registered against her under Section 379 (theft) of the IPC.
She was held in the lock-up until the next day, when she was moved to the detection room before she was to be presented in court. When Kale saw there were no cops guarding her, however, she seized the chance and gave them the slip.
When such incidents occur in the detection room of the Mumbai Central railway police station, procedure demands that a fresh case be registered at Nagpada police station, where Kale was charged under Section 224 (resistance or obstruction by a person to his lawful apprehension) of the IPC.
A report regarding the incident was also presented at the Magistrate court. But Kale didn’t have long to enjoy her freedom. The GRP already knew her native address and left Mumbai the very same night to follow her to Shelke-Dhanura at Osmanabad. “After Kale escaped, the case was registered at Nagpada police station but the Mumbai Central railway police had her native address.
They arrested her at Shelke-Dhanura at Osmanabad and brought her back to Mumbai on Sunday early morning,” said an official from the Mumbai Central railway police station. Kale was yesterday presented at the Nagpada police station, and at the holiday court of Esplanade Magistrate, which remanded her in judicial custody.