RailEnquiry

PUNE: The government railway police (GRP) have arrested the seventh absconding suspect Nitin Anuksh Chaudhary (22) of Indapur in connection with the recent railway robberies carried out near Pune in June and July this year.Chaudhary was arrested at Urli Kanachan railway station on September 22, following a tip off.The GRP had earlier arrested Sagar Dada Kamthe (19) of Ghorpadi, Atul Shivaji Nimbhore (22) of Malwadi, Hadapsar, Kailas Maruti Vagare (22), all originally from Karmala in Solapur district, Nitin Datta Survase (23) of Shewalwadi in Haveli taluka and Chhotelal alias Bablu Gupta (32) of Vaiduwadi, Hadapsar.Police have seized goods worth Rs 1.45 lakh from them. The gang is responsible for robbing six trains near Pune.In June the gang robbed Rs 50,000 from passengers on the Patna express near Daund. The gang also looted the Agra-Pune Express near Pune. On July 17, the gang robbed passengers of the Pune-Patna Express near Yavat; on July 22, the Maharashtra Express was targeted; on July 25, cash and cellphones worth Rs 1.21 lakh were robbed on the Jodhpur-Pune Express and on July 27 the gang robbed 18 passengers travelling on the Goa-Nizamuddin Express."Kamthe has a police record and has cases of vehicle theft and robberies registered against him. Police have also seized weapons from the suspects. While committing the dacoity on the Jodhpur-Pune express, the men had beaten up some passengers", GRP officials said.

Officials said, "The gang would get train tickets for the general compartment. Two of them would leave their seats on the pretext of going to the toilet and carry out a recce of the compartment and neighbouring compartments. After confirming that there were no policemen in the compartments, they would threaten the passengers with weapons and loot them. They would then pull the chain to stop the train and escape".

GRP (local crime branch) assistant police inspector Ramdas Shelke told TOI that the suspects are involved in few more cases.