‘Mommy’ gang members prowling at Meerut stns nabbed

Meerut: Women carrying toddlers in their arms in Meerut don’t look suspicious at all at first glance – probably that is what these four women took advantage of. They would move in groups, carrying babies in their arms, surround their victim and pick their pockets. Mind you, if you are one of those people wearing kurtas, you will be their first target.After all, it is easy to slip a wallet from a kurta pocket! And people carrying handbags are the next favourite.
But the four women, who would prowl at railway stations from Khatauli to Daurala for easy targets, were finally caught by the government railway police (GRP) at Daurala railway station on Tuesday.
Ashok Kumar, station officer of GRP, said: “We have had complaints about women stealing people’s pockets in the past. Many attempts were made to catch hold of them but all in vain. It was only after Sabuddin, who was on his way to Meerut in a Delhi-Ambala passenger train, notified the police about his wallet getting stolen did the notorious women get caught. GRP personell encircled the women, checked their bags to find Sabuddin’s wallet. They were arrested thereafter.”
The women, characteristically attired in unkempt sarees, remained elusive all this while, though the GRP have been close to catching them in the past. Whenever the cops would give the women a chase, the babies in their arms would start crying, creating chaos among the public. Passersby would gather at the spot, enabling the accused to mingle in the crowd, police said.
The four women, Shashi, Rammati, Meenakshi and Lakshmi, all residents of slums that have mushroomed in the city, were booked under Section 379 (punishment for theft) and Section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) of the Indian penal Code (IPC).
“There are other women who are involved in such thefts. During interrogation, the nabbed women admitted that their main targets were men wearing kurtas and ladies carrying handbags. Furthermore, the kids in their arms helped them gain sympathy from the public as they looked like helpless mothers and too innocent to have committed the crime,” said Kumar.