Betrayal On The Tracks

     It was a night in July 2020. It was two o'clock. A super fast train from Chennai to Mumbai arrived at Yadagiri railway station and stopped for two minutes before moving forward. Minutes after the train left the station, a woman in the S-7 sleeper coach started screaming, 'Oh, someone has stolen my bag.' Hearing her screams, the fellow passengers who were sleeping woke up. Someone pulled the chain and stopped the train. Meanwhile, the train was ten kilometers from Yadagiri and had moved forward. 

    As soon as the train stopped, the loco pilot, guard, and one R.P.F. Constable came to S-7 coach. Seethalakshmi, who had lost her bag, told them what had happened. They called the Karnataka railway police constable who was on the duty in that train. Seethalakshmi said before him, 'I am traveling from Chennai to Pune. At night, I slept with my handbag under my pillow. I had a deep sleep. I woke up when I felt someone pulling the bag. A man grabbed a bag and ran out the door. The bag contained gold jewellery weighing 2 tons, a money purse containing Rs 4,000/- cash, and two mobile phones. She said.

     A case was registered at Wadi Railway Police Station. The police checked the CCTV footage at Yadagiri railway station. When the train left, a man got down from the sleeper coach carrying a handbag. But  his face could not be seen properly as the light was low. So he could not be identified. Police sent the CCTV footage to the neighboring railway police stations and sought their cooperation in tracing the identity of the person.

    After 15 days, a Raichur Railway Head Constable saw the CCTV footage and said that the person in it might be Basavaraj, who had been burglarizing houses in Raichur earlier. Then the investigator went to Basavaraj's house. His wife informed him that he was not in town and gave him his mobile  number. On the basis of its location, the police found Basavaraj and took him to the police station, and when he interrogated him, he admitted that he had stolen the bag.

     He said that he had mortgaged two gold chains in the stolen bag and spent Rs 4,000/- in cash. He said that the two mobile phones in the bag were thrown into garbage bin. The gold shopkeeper where he had kept the chains told the investigator that he had melted the chains and given the gold. Basavaraj showed the garbage bin where he had thrown the phones to the police. Both phones were found when they were searched with the help of civil servants. They were Seethalakshmi's phones.

    Later, Basavaraj was interrogated at length in the police station and he said, 5 years ago, I used to do house theft and street theft in Raichur district. Apart from stealing gold and cash, I also used to steal mobile When I got caught in a case and went to court, I got to know a police constable named Mahadev. What crime have I committed? When he asked me how I got stuck, I told him what happened. You got caught because you stole a mobile phone. We know that it is there because of its location. After you are released from this case, come to me; I will help you, said constable Mahadev. After a year, I was released from jail and went to Mahadev's house. Mahadev, who was then a railway police constable, said stealing in trains was easier than street theft and house burglary. I will teach you how to steal. If you do that, you won't get caught. So I asked what I should do. 

    He made a condition that half a share should be given to him. I agreed. Trains from Mumbai, Bangalore, and Chennai passing through Raichur district ply between the two states. They are Karnataka and Andhra. So if you take a train in Andhra Pradesh, steal on the way, and get off at a station in Karnataka, it is difficult to get caught. I will let you know in advance which train I am on, as I do beat duty on this route. You get on that train and give me a missed call. I will meet you, tell you which passengers have valuables, and show them from a distance. You target them, steal their bag or suit case, and drop it. I agreed. For the last two years, I have been stealing on the instructions of Mahadev. Usually, between 2.30 a.m. and 3 a.m., passengers are fast asleep. Then Mahadev told me to rob their belongings and advised me not to steal any electronic items like mobiles, laptops, etc. if they are found in the bags, they should be thrown away immediately.

    Mahadev himself identified such people who said that they should target those sleeping in the berths near the doors of the sleeper coaches. As soon as I gave a missed call, he would give me the compartment number and berth number of the passenger to be robbed. He used to open the doors of such coaches. A few minutes before the train arrived at any station, I would go to that compartment, steal the bags, and get off the train quickly. Then I used to give half of the money from selling the stolen goods to Mahadev. In the last two years, there have been three thefts every two months. Around fifty-six thousand rupees have been given to him.

    According to Basavaraj's statement, Constable Mahadeva was made a co-accused in the Seethalakshmi bag theft case and arrested. When the police raided his house, they were shocked after seeing the luxury items kept in his house. In the trial, Mahadeva admitted his guilt and said that apart from Basavaraj, he had given abetment for the theft to another thief. Seven cases were detected based on the statements of both accused. A departmental inquiry was conducted against Mahadev, and he was dismissed from the job.

    In three of the seven theft cases, both the accused were sentenced to three years of imprisonment each. The rest are pending in court. Ex-constable Mahadev and Basavaraj are in the same barracks of the jail. The policeman who was supposed to protect everyone joined hands with the thief in this way and became a black spot for the entire police department.(1)

Reference

1] Dr.D.V Guruprasad, 2023 December 10, “ಚೋರ ಪೊಲೀಸನ ವಿಧೇಯ ಶಿಷ್ಯ”, A Kshana, Vijayavani, Bengaluru,

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