he Kurla GRP has arrested two members of a gang that had a modus operandi of offering railway commuters tea or scented supari laced with sedatives, making them lose consciousness, after which they robbed them of all their valuables.
On July 18, GRP officials received a complaint from commuter Nasim Khan (30), a resident of Gujarat who was waiting at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus for his train when the accused, Jiyalal Bhartiya (45) and Rajesh Pal (30), approached him claiming to be commuters of the same train. They offered Nasim a cup of tea, after which he fainted and later did not recognise anything.
Kurla GRP police said: “Our officials got information that a man had fainted near the waiting room, after which they immediately took him to a nearby hospital. Later, when he regained consciousness, he realised that his money had been robbed. He told us about the two men who gave him tea. We checked all the CCTV cameras on the platform, laid a trap and arrested them from Kurla railway station.”
Officials added, “During interrogation, we came to know that there were many cases registered against these accused in Dadar, Kalyan and Navi Mumbai railway stations. Two of the accused accepted their crime and confessed that they offered cigarettes, tea or scented supari to commuters and once they fainted, robbed them. In Navi Mumbai alone, they had robbed valuables worth more than '25,000.”
