A thief, who allegedly conned at least 50 people travelling on long-distance trains by giving them drug-laced food and drinks, ran out of luck recently when he was arrested by the crime branch of the railway police in Pune.
The 27-year-old operated from a lodge in Bhayander. The police recovered four laptops, 14 mobile phones, and gold jewellery worth Rs10 lakh from the thief.
According to the Pune railway police, Bharat Ashok Jain, a native of Pali in Rajasthan, would spend the money buying expensive gifts for his girlfriends who worked in bars. Jain used at least 12 aliases such as Harshad Mehta, Suresh Patel, and Harshad Patel to fool passengers, the police said. Since he spoke Gujarati and Marwari fluently, he would target passengers from these two communities. He would target trains on the Mumbai-Gujarat, Mumbai-Nagpur, Pune-Bangalore, Pune-Jodhpur, and Pune-Ajmer routes.
Explaining his modus operandi, senior inspector AB Shinde of the crime branch of the Pune railway police said, “Jain would book two AC tickets in the Tatkal quota. On the day of the train’s departure, he would go to the railway station and target someone who had failed to get a reservation.
“He would offer his extra ticket to the victim. Jain always ensured that the trip was an overnight one so that he could flee easily.” Shinde said that during the journey Jain would offer drug-laced food and spiked drinks to the victim. Once the victim became unconscious, Jain would flee with his belongings.
“On investigation, we found that most of the thefts had taken place on the Mumbai-Chennai route. We also knew that the con man used to buy tickets under a Gujarati name,” said Shinde.
The police also learnt that the suspect would either book tickets online or from an agent
in Bhayander. “When we went to the agent’s office, he told us that the tickets were booked by Jain and that he was staying in a lodge at Bhayander. When we went to his lodge, Jain had already left. We seized a stolen laptop from the room,” Shinde said.
On August 25, several policemen boarded the Mumbai-Chennai Express from Pune. “It was difficult for us to locate him as there were several Gujarati passengers on the train,” said Shinde. So policemen took up positions at the doors of all AC compartments.
On seeing so many policemen, Jain did not attempt to con any passengers, said Shinde. “When we couldn’t spot him, we twice pulled the chain to give him a chance to escape,” said Shinde. “But nobody came out of the compartments. The third time, however, when we pulled the chain near Daund railway station, a policeman saw Jain running on the tracks. He was nabbed immediately.”
According to the police, Jain was earlier arrested in 2005 and sentenced to three years in prison. It was in jail that he learnt the tricks of the trade from another inmate.
