Five get 6 years in jail for robbing passenger in last local on Harbour Line

Mumbai: Five persons were sentenced to six years of imprisonment on Tuesday for assaulting and robbing a man travelling in the last local on Harbour Line in 2016. The five convicts have been identified as Hafiz Khan, 27, Siman Shaikh, 27, Vaibhav Kadam 27, Manni Vishwakarma 28 and Sachin Mashal, 31 – all residents of Mankhurd.

According to the prosecution, the complainant, Mahadeo Zore was travelling from Mankhurd to Wadala and had taken the last local on December 30, 2016.

According to the prosecution, the complainant Mahadeo Zore was travelling from Mankhurd to Wadala and had taken the last local on the night of December 30, 2016. It added that when he was trying to get off at his destination, the group caught hold of him and banged his head on the pole near the door. Later, Zore claimed, one of the accused – who was holding a knife, dragged him inside the coach.

Inside the coach, the accused snatched his gold chain, golden earring, mobile phone and whatever cash he had in his pocket, said the prosecution, adding that when the complainant tried to defend himself, the accused assaulted him with a knife because of which Zore sustained injuries to his face. It said that after robbing the complainant, all the accused got down at Sewree station.

Zore lodged a complaint with the railway police the next day. The GRP identified all five accused through CCTV footage and arrested them.

Public prosecutor Ramesh Siroya examined 13 witnesses and heavily relied on the CCTV footage to show the movements of the accused and also the fact that they ran out of the station immediately after getting off the local train at Sewree.

The accused claimed that they had been falsely implicated in the case and the complainant was drunk at the time of the incident because of which he had wrongly identified them. The prosecution contended that the complainant was injured on the head hence he was feeling giddy but was not under any influence.

The sessions court accepted the prosecution case and convicted all five accused.