Railway cops close in on gang of mobile thieves with two arrests

Amid a number of complaints of mobile phone theft after dark on the Pune-Lonavala local trains, the trapping of two people from a gang of three thieves yesterday gave the railway police something to cheer about.

A mobile phone was recovered by the railway police from the two suspects, Sharma Matlab Bhosale (23), a resident of Dapodi, and Deepak alias Bahirya Navnath Shinde (20), a resident of Phugewadi.

The two were produced in court and remanded in police custody for two days.

There have been at least 10 incidents of mobile phone theft in the past 40 days on late night locals between Lonavala and the city.

Generally, complaints are made with the local police in Pimpri, Chinchwad or Dapodi, and then transferredu00a0 to the railway police.

PI Mahendra Rokade and API Mahendra Bagade, who set up the trap with their colleagues to catch Bhosale and Shinde, said that they had got the suspects' description from a complainant, Shivanand Sharma, a resident of Khadki.

Sharma's mobile and cash were stolen by the gang between Pimpri and Kasarwadi. "The train is almost empty at night," said Sharma. "It was easy for me to describe them as there was a lot of light inside the compartment," he said.

The thieves also stole the mobile of another passenger, Abhijeet Jaunjal, before getting off at Kasarwadi station and vanishing in the dark.

API Bagade said the young men were unemployed. "We are sure we will be able to arrest others involved in the crime of stealing mobiles and other valuables," he said.

So far the railway police have identified a third suspect, Mohan Bhaskar Hinge, and sent a team to trace him.