Duo held for conning passengers at Central station, stealing phones
The arrested persons were identified as Rajkumar Ram (24) and Dineshkumar Mukia (21) - both from Bihar. Chetpet Police arrested the accused based on a complaint from another guest worker, Birbal (23) of Jharkhand.
22-year-old youth arrested in robbery case (Illustration/Jancy Rani)
CHENNAI: A duo, who targeted guest workers at railway stations in Chennai and Andhra Pradesh and stole their phones after conning them into believing that they could get them confirmed train tickets, were arrested by the Chennai Police.
In some cases, the conmen also stole money through UPI transactions from the stolen phones, said the police, adding that they have recovered 18 stolen phones from them.
The arrested persons were identified as Rajkumar Ram (24) and Dineshkumar Mukia (21) from Bihar. The Chetpet police arrested them based on a complaint from another guest worker, Birbal (23) of Jharkhand.
On October 13, Birbal was at the Chennai Central railway station to buy tickets to go to his hometown for Deepavali. The duo allegedly approached Birbal and claimed that they could get him confirmed train tickets and took him near the Chetpet railway station. They took Birbal's phone in the guise of installing an app and then took the password for his UPI.
After diverting Birbal's attention, the duo fled the spot with his phone and later transferred Rs 48,000 from his bank account through UPI.
Investigations revealed that the accused targeted guest workers and stole mobile phones using a similar modus operandi, and also frequently travelled to Andhra Pradesh, where they stole mobile phones from passengers sleeping on the platforms.
The police recovered 18 mobile phones from the accused duo and produced them before a magistrate, who remanded them in judicial custody.
Nabbing another person who followed the same modus operandi, the city police had arrested Ramdayalan Lakhra (30) of Bikaner, Rajasthan, five months ago for targeting passengers at Central station and stealing phones from people sleeping on the platforms. He also used to approach gullible passengers on the pretext of helping them book tickets and steal their phones.
Lakhra led police to the mobile phone shop owner, Noushand Ali (35) of Kerala, who used to buy the stolen phones from Lakhra. Ali was also arrested.
