Railway police teams nab laptop thief

A joint team of personnel from the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) nabbed a person accused of stealing a laptop bag containing a laptop and headphones on the Chandigarh-Yesvantpur Express train on March 4.

A statement issued by the Mysuru Division of South Western Railway stated that the criminal involved in the theft was nabbed at Arsikere and the stolen electronic items worth Rs 1.15 lakh were recovered from him on March 10.

The case alleges that Chandragowda Patil, a resident of Haveri district, was caught on board Chandigarh-Yesvantpur Express Train No. 22686, reporting that his laptop bag was stolen while traveling. The passenger realized that his bag, which contained his laptop, headphones and company ID card, was missing from the S-2 bus as the train approached Yesvantpur station.

CCTV footage

While a special team was formed to investigate the incident, a detailed examination was carried out on the security camera footage of Koç S-2 on the day of the incident.

“During the investigation, the authorities identified a suspicious person who was seen lifting the passenger’s bag. The CCTV footage was immediately shared with the RPF and GRP units, whereby the authorities launched a joint search operation to trace the suspect,” the statement said.

On March 10, the joint team conducted an inspection at Arşikere Railway Station based on reliable intelligence. The statement said, “When the Vasco Da Gama-Yesvantpur Express arrived at the station around 09.45, the suspect was stopped by the authorities.”

The defendant was identified as 20-year-old Sangamesh G., a resident of Davangere district. During the interrogation, the suspect confessed his crime. Based on his voluntary declaration, GRP recovered the stolen items.

A case was registered against the accused under Section 305(c) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 and he was produced before the JMFC court in Channarayapatna and the court remanded him to 14 days judicial custody.

“Timely coordination between RPF and GRP personnel played a key role in solving the case within a few days of the complaint and enabled the recovery of the stolen property,” the press release said.