Fence to be raised to prevent train robberies

The snatching of a mobile phone from a woman commuter a couple of days ago has once again brought into focus the frequent robberies and chain-snatching incidents on local trains between Churni Road and Churchagte.

The snatching of a mobile phone from a woman commuter a couple of days ago has once again brought into focus the frequent robberies and chain-snatching incidents on local trains between Churni Road and Churchagte. The modus operandi is to snatch valuables from commuters, mostly women, when a train is waiting for the green signal. The low-height fencing in the area facilitates their easy escape.

The answer to the problem was found by the Government Railway Police around five months back, when it suggested the Western Railway to increase the height of the fencing. But so far, it has not materialised and despite heavy patrolling and checking, the incidents continue. The latest was on November 4. According to sources, 32-year-old Anupama Anubhav Mishra had boarded a Churchgate-bound train from Mahalaxmi station at around 7.30 pm. She was talking on her mobile phone when the train slowed down near a signal. A goon snatched away the phone, jumped down from the train and ran away after scaling the low fence.

M D Raskar, Senior Police inspector said, 8220;A case of theft has been registered against the unidentified person.8221; The Western Railway authorities now say that a proposal to increase the height of the barricades had been submitted to headquarters.

With the phone-snatching incident, the number of cases, including a couple of murders, has gone up to 11 in a three-and-a-half-year span in the Churchgate-Churni Road stretch. Eight incidents took place in the ladies8217; compartment of the local trains. All the incidents happened when the trains were standing for the green signal.

On June 9, after a woman commuter, Pritanka Chowdhary, was robbed in the ladies8217; first class compartment, security was beefed up in the ladies compartments of fast locals by the GRP. The incident took place three days after Raskar had taken charge of the area. After investigating the case, he had made a report and found that people easily crossed the iron fencing and entered the ladies8217; compartment when Churchgate-bound trains stopped at the red signal. On June 12, he sent the report to AK Sharma, commissioner GRP and he in turn forwarded it to the Divisional Railway Manager WR. In his report, Raskar wrote, 8220;From Churchgate to Charni Road east there should be 8 to 10-ft-high fencing along the tracks.8221;

CP Sharma, DRM, Mumbai Division was out of station, so Shyam Sunder Gupta, Chief Public Relations Officer, Western Railway informed, 8220;A proposal has been sent to the headquarters. After getting the proposal sanctioned, work to increase the height of the fencing will be started within a year. WR has decided to make 5-ft-high concrete wall in the area. There will be a fencing of around 5 ft height on the concrete wall.8221;

11cases in three years
In 2006, three crimes were reported on trains between Churchgate and Churni Road and one was a case of murder. In two cases of theft, goons snatched a gold chain and a mobilephone after entering the ladies8217; compartment. In 2007, there were three cases and again one was a murder case. In the theft cases, a person had entered the ladies compartment and snatched a gold chain and on February 4, 2007, goons boarded the ladies compartment at Marine Line and after assaulting her, ran away with her bag. In 2008, five cases of armed robbery and theft were reported. The last was on November 4, in which a mobilephone was snatched from a woman. There were three chain-snatching incidents in the ladies8217; compartment. On May 10, a bag was snatched from a commuter in the women8217;s compartment.