A passenger travelling on the Indore-Daund Ratlam Express reported the theft of her mobile phone and laptop while she was asleep, after which ₹39,501 was withdrawn from two of her bank accounts. The case has been registered with the Dombivli Government Railway Police after the theft was reported near Bhiwandi railway station.
The complainant, identified as Pune resident Pranita Goyal, was travelling from Indore to Pune four days before the police case was reported. According to information provided by the police and cited in the complaint, she boarded the train at about 8 p.m. and worked on her laptop during the journey.
Goyal told the police that she fell asleep near Vadodara railway station. Before sleeping, she placed the laptop bag in front of her seat and kept her mobile phone near her pillow. She said there were no people other than passengers in the coach at the time.
The passenger woke at about 4.30 a.m. when the train was in the Bhiwandi station area. She then found that the mobile phone near her pillow and the laptop were missing. She searched other parts of the coach but could not find either item. The train did not have a scheduled halt at the location where she noticed the theft.
Goyal contacted the Railway Protection Force after discovering the loss. She was advised to approach the Vasai railway police, according to the report. The case was subsequently registered at the Dombivli railway police station because the incident was reported to have taken place within the Bhiwandi jurisdiction.
The stolen items and documents were linked to a wider financial loss. The mobile phone contained banking information and passwords, and the complainant contacted her brother to ask him to visit the bank and stop online transactions. By then, the alleged thief had withdrawn ₹39,501 from two of her bank accounts. The complainant was not immediately able to determine whether further withdrawals had taken place.
The laptop, mobile phone, debit cards and credit cards were collectively valued at about ₹94,000, according to the complaint. Police have registered a case and are investigating the theft and the subsequent bank transactions.
The report also states that several passengers travelling on express trains have reported the theft of mobile phones, laptops and other valuables on the stretch between Vasai and Bhiwandi in recent months. Some suspects in such cases have previously been arrested by the crime branch, according to the police information cited by Loksatta. Further details about arrests or recovery in the present case were not provided.
