Theft incidents in trains on the rise in Guwahati Railway station

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, July 25: According to Railway Protection Force (RPF), the incidents of theft of passengers' belongings have been on constant rise at Guwahati railway station over the last few years. Expressing concern on the phenomenon, the RPF pointed out that the thieves readily get on board at Kamakhya station and apparently they snatches various passenger belongings as much as possible before reaching Guwahati railway station and jumps off from the train. This gang of snatchers considers this short track quite at ease as most of the trains head slowly towards Guwahati railway station from Kamakhya.

According to RPF source, this year, as on date, the RPF has arrested altogether 47 thieves from Guwahati railway station. Out of these 47 offenders, 2 were arrested in January, 2 in February, 5 in March, 2 in April, 13 in May, 13 in June and 10 others till July 25. The last was arrested on Tuesday night from Guwahati railway station. Later he was identified as Budhua Chauhan and was arrested from Guwahati railway station. Chauhan snatched a mobile phone from a passenger from Dibrugarh named, Javir Khan who was on board at the Dibrugarh-Chandigarh Express and jumped off from the slowly running train before reaching Guwahati railway station. In 2017, the RPF arrested 3 offenders in the month of January, 4 in February, 5 in March, 4 in April, 7 in May, 2 in June, 5 in July, 1 in August, 1 in September, 5 in October, 1 in November and 4 in December. Hence, last year, the RPF arrested altogether 42 offenders from Guwahati railway station alone. "The phenomenon is so challenging that some of the thieves had been undergoing multiple jail terms. However, they commit the same once freed from jail which is a concern for the security forces," the source added. Notably, the arrested offenders are handed over to the Government Railway Police (GRP) who registers the cases for further legal procedure.