Agra: Uttar Pradesh Government Railway Police Tuesday arrested a man accused of stealing valuables from passengers’ luggage on long-distance trains after allegedly learning techniques of theft from YouTube videos.
Railway Police (Agra) Superintendent of Police Abhishek Verma told ThePrint that Ritesh Agarwal, a resident of Gwalior, had confessed to his crimes and disclosed the details of his modus operandi.
“Agarwal told police that he had learned the art of theft from YouTube videos on stealing in trains. He specifically targeted customers travelling in AC coaches as there were greater chances of finding high-value items in their luggage,” Verma said.
Agarwal would travel as a passenger on AC coaches, and when passengers were sleepy or distracted, he would silently inspect their bags. He would then remove any precious items, such as gold and silver jewellery, cash and mobile phones, before carefully placing the luggage back to avoid suspicion.
The passengers would learn about the incident only after arriving at their destination, by when Agarwal would be long gone.
Police said that they became suspicious of Agarwal’s activities during a routine check at Agra Cantt station. He confessed to the thefts when they detained him for questioning
Police have recovered gold and silver jewellery worth about Rs 10 lakh from him. A case has been registered against him and he has been sent to jail.
The Railway Police SHO of Agra Cantt, Vikas Saxena, told The Print that Agarwal’s arrest led to the disclosure of four different cases of theft in trains so far. The FIRs in all four cases were registered at the Agra Cantt GRP police station.
In one case, an entire trolley bag with cash and jewellery was stolen from Krishna Kumar of Raipur in Chhattisgarh. In another, jewellery was stolen from the bag of Rajni Vyas from Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh.
In the third case, Lokesh Sharma from Delhi reported his jewellery stolen, while in the fourth, Adesh Kumar Jain from New Delhi complained that his wife’s purse, cash, diamond necklace and studs were stolen.
According to Saxena, the items recovered from the accused include most of the valuables related to these four cases.
SP Verma said that Agarwal ran a grocery commission agency, but financial losses pushed him into debt, forcing him to turn to a life of crime, stealing on trains.
Police are investigating whether Ritesh was working alone or if there is an organised gang behind him.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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