RPF nabs burglars on run after TN heist, recovers 3kg gold, 27kg silver

Chandrapur: A joint team of Ballarshah and Chandrapur Railway Police Force (RPF) arrested a gang of burglars fleeing with valuables and cash worth over Rs2.10 crore from Bagmati Express at Ballarshah railway station on Saturday morning.

Acting on an intelligence input, RPF jawans searched nearly the entire train to locate the burglars and dig out five bags and two sacs filled with 3.306kg gold jewellery and 27.97kg silver valuables along with Rs14.52 lakh. The train was held up for over half-an-hour while search operation was underway to identify the burglars and recover their baggage.

Four burglars identified as Mahatab Aalam Khan (37), Badurl Jahangir Khan (20), Muhammad Subhan Abuld Wahib (30) and Dilkas Muhammad Arif (20), all residents of Araria district in Bihar, had broken into a jeweller-cum-pawn broker shop in Tiruppur city in Tamil Nadu on Thursday night and decamped with the booty.

After identifying the burglars from the CCTV footage of the shop, Tiruppur police tracked their movement from Tiruppur to Chennai railway station. They discovered that burglars had taken Chennai-Bagmati (Bihar) 12578 Bagmati Express for Bihar.

“Commissioner of police, Tiruppur called to inform about the burglary and also shared CCTV footage. He told us that burglars were travelling in Bagmati Express. It was a challenging task to search the train filled with thousands of passengers,” said senior divisional security commissioner (SDSC), RPF, Central Railways, Ashutosh Pande.

RFP PI at Ballarpur, MK Mishra, with the help of RPF PI, Chandrapur, Navin Pratap Singh assembled a team of 15 personnel and sealed the exits on getting directives from Pande. The train arrived at Ballarshah station at 9.47am. “The train was jam packed and it was difficult to identify the burglars with the help of grainy CCTV footage. Our jawans managed to spot Mahatab Alam in coach S7. He was immediately taken for questioning, while the train was held up for further operation. He spilled the beans and gave the location of his accomplice,” PI Mishra told TOI.

Badurl Khan was nabbed from coach S9, while Muhammad Subhan was caught at the railway station while trying to flee while fourth was found perched on an AC berth. “All the accused had changed clothes and covered their faces with scarves, and were travelling separately. They had stuffed their baggage at different compartments and mixed with luggage of other passengers,” Mishra told.

RPF jawans recovered five backpacks and two blue-yellow coloured sacs.

Mishra said they weighed the valuables with the help of a local jeweller in presence of witnesses, and found that gold jewellery and other gold valuables weighed 3306.710gm and are worth around Rs 1.76 crore. Similarly, silver valuables weighed 27.972 crore and are worth around 19.58 lakh.

“A team of Tiruppur police has started from Chennai to take custody of the accused and the recovered booty,” Mishra said.

Tiruppur’s commissioner of police has appreciated the RPF action.


Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.