When the Bengaluru Railway Police were probing the theft of the laptop bag of a passenger who was travelling from Udupi to Bengaluru recently, little did they know that it would lead them to an employee of the Railways.
The special team of Railway Police arrested a 33-year-old assistant loco pilot working at the Sakleshpur railway station in Hassan and seized valuables worth ₹3.3 lakh that he had allegedly stolen from passengers. Pudi Swaraj, a native of Andhra Pradesh, was caught in Sakleshpur last week with a trolley bag containing laptops, gold valuables, and phones. Upon being questioned about the contents, he did not have an answer. On investigating, the police learnt that it was a stolen bag.
“During questioning, Pudi Swaraj told police about other valuables, including laptops, smartphones, and gold valuables, totally worth ₹3.3 lakh,” said Soumyalatha S.K., Superintendent of Police (Railways).
In debt
According to the police, Swaraj joined the service in 2021 and had taken a massive amount of loans for his marriage and for the medical treatment of his father.
Unable to repay the loan, he began stealing valuables from train passengers. He would move around on the train in uniform, identify passengers not taking care of their luggage and steal them. As he was in uniform, passengers would not suspect him.
He would take valuables from the stolen bags, throw the rest, and return home to sell them and repay the loan. Once, while carrying a stolen bag, he was caught by the security personnel. But he managed to convince them that the valuables, including a mobile phone and laptop, belonged to his wife.
“With his arrest, we have detected five theft cases registered at Arasikere railway station so far,“ Ms. Soumyalatha said, adding that the police have recovered a laptop and a mobile phone which the accused had stolen, but no complaint had been filed. “We are trying to track the owners of the seized goods. Investigations are on to know if he is involved in any other cases,” she said.
