In a first, 4 convicted under MCOCA for snatching rail commuter’s phone
Gang leader gets 7 years in jail, others to spend 5 years behind bars.
In one of the biggest victories for the Government Railway Police (GRP) against mobile-snatchers on trains in the city, a MCOCA court on Tuesday handed down strict punishment to four men for taking away a commuter’s cell phone last year.
While Judge A J Pansare sentenced Munnavvarali Khan to seven years rigorous imprisonment, the others, identified as Kishankumar Godhra, Afsar Shaikh and Eeshwar Nanoma will spend five years each behind bars.
According to GRP Commissioner Madhukar Pandey, this is the first case in which they pressed charges under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 (MCOCA). And they have successfully managed to get conviction under the Act.
In the early hours of February 23, 2015, Rajesh Muthuswamy, a sailor, from Chennai arrived at CST. He was scheduled to go to Belapur for a training programme. Being new to the city, Muthuswamy asked a group of people, later identified as the gang led by Khan, to help him board the right train.
Knowing that the newcomer was a perfect prey, the gang guided him to a train and hopped onto it as it started moving. Between CST and Masjid, they attacked him and snatched his mobile phone and jumped off the local.
Acting on Muthuswamy’s complaint, the GRP arrested Khan and his accomplices in March 2015. After they learnt that Khan regularly formed new gangs to rob train commuters, the CST Railway police booked the four under MCOCA.
“Crimes committed on moving trains or any other situation where a victim on the move is suddenly attacked is a matter of commuter safety. There have been deaths due to such attacks in the past. So we decided to go for a higher level of legal action,” said Pandey.
While official data on snatching of mobiles were not immediately available, sources pegged the number at 40 a day on city’s suburban network.
In one of the biggest victories for the Government Railway Police (GRP) against mobile-snatchers on trains in the city, a MCOCA court on Tuesday handed down strict punishment to four men for taking away a commuter’s cell phone last year.
While Judge A J Pansare sentenced Munnavvarali Khan to seven years rigorous imprisonment, the others, identified as Kishankumar Godhra, Afsar Shaikh and Eeshwar Nanoma will spend five years each behind bars.
Besides the jail term, the court imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh each on all four. Failure to pay the fine will attract an additional one-and-ahalf years of rigorous imprisonment.
According to GRP Commissioner Madhukar Pandey, this is the first case in which they pressed charges under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 (MCOCA). And they have successfully managed to get conviction under the Act.
In the early hours of February 23, 2015, Rajesh Muthuswamy, a sailor, from Chennai arrived at CST. He was scheduled to go to Belapur for a training programme. Being new to the city, Muthuswamy asked a group of people, later identified as the gang led by Khan, to help him board the right train.
Knowing that the newcomer was a perfect prey, the gang guided him to a train and hopped onto it as it started moving. Between CST and Masjid, they attacked him and snatched his mobile phone and jumped off the local.
Acting on Muthuswamy’s complaint, the GRP arrested Khan and his accomplices in March 2015. After they learnt that Khan regularly formed new gangs to rob train commuters, the CST Railway police booked the four under MCOCA.
“Crimes committed on moving trains or any other situation where a victim on the move is suddenly attacked is a matter of commuter safety. There have been deaths due to such attacks in the past. So we decided to go for a higher level of legal action,” said Pandey.
While official data on snatching of mobiles were not immediately available, sources pegged the number at 40 a day on city’s suburban network.
