The Hindu : Thefts on trains going undetected

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 28, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram

Thefts on trains going undetected

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM APRIL 27. A large number of cases of theft on trains are going undetected, even as the Railway police here blame passengers for failing to observe basic precautions against culprits and report the cases promptly.

Out of 17 cases registered last year at the Thampanoor Railway Police Station, only three have been settled so far. The frequency of thefts has been higher on trains like the Malabar and Kannur Expresses, which are preferred by Gulf-returnees.

According to the police, most of the culprits now assume the guise of well-behaved individuals and mingle with the passengers.

Moreover, their modus operandi has now been ruled more by the brain than by physical force.

Most aggrieved passengers failed to fill in many particulars during the time of registering the case, the police said.

Sometimes the theft might have occurred long before the passenger realised it and in such cases, the scope of detecting the culprit was very low.

Recently, the Kozhikode Mayor, Thottathil Raveendran, who was in the capital for some official needs, became a victim. He lost his baggage from the Malabar Express when he went out to have a tea. Luckily, he lost only some documents.

Some time ago, Sunil Bansal, who owns a travel agency in Delhi, was fooled by a stranger at the Central railway station, who threw faecal matter on his shirt.

He was about to board the Rajadhani Express after a visit to his organisation's branch at Pettah. Mr. Bansal was robbed of Rs.40,000 when he went to wash his shirt.

According to the Railway police, passengers often failed to comply with the request that they put down the shutters at night to guard against chain-snatchers.

Since the passenger would be unable to give any details of the criminals in cases of chain-snatching from the window at night, detection would be that much more difficult.

In such a situation, prevention of crimes was being given more emphasis than detection, police said.

Vagrants and suspicious-looking individuals were being kept away from the stations and platforms and this step was paying rich dividends.

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