CST police secure conviction in MCOCA case

The Government Railway Police (GRP) has succeeded in securing a conviction in its first Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) case of railways on Tuesday. The main accused was awarded seven years rigorous imprisonment (RI) for indulging in looting and assaulting of passengers in train.

MCOCA judge A. L. Pansare awarded seven-years imprisonment and slapped Rs 5 lakh fine (failure to pay the fine will attract additional one-and-half-years RI) on Munnavvarali Sharafat Ali Khan, the main accused in the case. The other accused were Kishankumar Godhra, Afsar Shaikh and Eeshwar Nanoma who will have to undergo five years RI and pay up Rs 5 lakh as fine.

The main accused Khan was the leader of a gang called ‘Nangi Talwar’ which would loot commuters and cause bodily injuries to them. After receiving a complaint in March from one Babu Desai who was travelling in a Chennai Central-Mumbai CST Express, the GRP formed two police teams to trace and arrest the accused associated with Nangi Talwar. The gang targeted train passengers at night and early morning.

Mr Desai said that he was attacked at about 4 am when he was asleep in the train. Khan and two of his accomplices had badly thrashed Mr Desai and snatched his bag. They then pulled the emergency chain and got off the train before it reached CST station.

CST GRP officier PI Yogendra Pache said, “There were several cases registered against this group on the harbour and central line. Khan is a habitual offender who was convicted twice for robbery and hence the CST railway police had invoked MCOCA for the first time in a railways crime case.”

The then senior police inspector ACP Redkar under the guidance of DCP Ambure assisted in the investigation. Shivaji Shinde, PI Dalvi, PI Pache, PSI Ghorpade, P.N. Jambhle, P.C. Raundal, Ladke, Sehgal and other staff, which resulted in a successful conviction.