Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh) [India], October 28 : The Government Railway Police (GRP) in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior arrested a man accused of stealing passengers’ belongings from air-conditioned coaches of long-distance trains and recovered 34 bags and other items from his possession, an official said on Wednesday. 
The accused, identified as Deepak Maurya, a resident of the Murar area in Gwalior, was apprehended during a ticket-checking drive at the railway station. According to the GRP, he was involved in such thefts for the past five months and hid the stolen bags and other belongings in a rented flat in Indramani Nagar in the district. 
GRP station for Narrow Gauge (NG) section in-charge, Dilip Samadhiya told ANI that the accused was intercepted during a checking drive conducted by a team formed as part of an investigation into railway theft cases.
“During checking at the station, our team stopped him and asked him to produce his ticket, but he did not have one. When questioned about the bag he was carrying, he could not provide a satisfactory explanation. The bag also resembled one linked to a theft case already registered with us. After seizing the bag and questioning him, he disclosed that he had been committing thefts for the past five months and he used to hide those bags at a rented apartment in Indramani Nagar. We have recovered around 34 bags, a laptop, a desktop computer, an Apple iPad, four mobile phones and Rs 5,400 in cash,” Samadhiya said.
The officer further said that during interrogation it came to light that the accused was educated, graduated and had previously worked at a finance company. While working at the company, he felt that private-sector jobs involved too much work. To avoid a demanding job, he found what he thought was an easy way to earn money through theft.
“He committed a theft on a train once and succeeded. After that, it became a habit, and he began regularly boarding AC coaches of trains to steal passengers’ belongings. He primarily targeted long-distance trains. He used to board an AC coach, check whether the passengers were asleep, then pick up a bag and get off the train, posing as an ordinary passenger,” the GRP officer said. 
During questioning, the accused said that he resorted to theft to avoid hard work and out of greed for money, the officer said, adding that the accused belongs to a well-to-do family and his father works as a clerk in the Indian Air Force. The accused’s two brothers-in-law are also employed in government service.