Speedy Summary
- Incident: Railway Police (Guntakal Division) arrested two key members of a gang responsible for organized crimes on express trains across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and neighboring states in the past year.
- Accused Details: Jalandhar Mahirya Pawar (50) and kohinoor Navnath Pawar (24), residents of Pune district, Maharashtra.
- Modus Operandi: The gang tampered with railway signal cables to halt trains between 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m., targeting women near windows to snatch gold chains and valuables.They also reportedly robbed passengers at knifepoint inside coaches.
- Investigation: Special teams formed with Renigunta and Kadapa Railway Police conducted searches in Sholapur and Pune, leading to arrests in renigunta.
- Confessions & Recoveries: The accused admitted involvement in nine incidents of robbery near Mamandur,Mungilipattu,and Siddampalli railway stations. Police recovered two cable cutters, two knives, and identified stolen gold ornaments totaling over 242 grams.
- Security Measures: Enforcement agencies intensified security measures like patrols, fingerprint verification systems, drone surveillance to prevent further train robberies.
Read more at The Hindu
Indian Opinion Analysis
This episode underscores the need for heightened vigilance in India’s railway network against increasingly refined gang operations. While tampering with signal cables presents risks not only to safety but also national infrastructure security-this issue demands immediate attention from authorities beyond local enforcement.
The proactive formation of special investigation teams highlights efficient coordination between police units across regions; however, preventing such crimes outright requires systemic upgrades like technological interventions cited here-drone surveillance being one example. Additionally addressing socio-economic drivers behind such offenses remains equally critical longer term