Jabalpur (MP), April 8 A 42-year-old man from Uttar Pradesh, wanted in several cases of train thefts, has been arrested in the district after a five-hour operation involving anxious waiting near a pond, police said on Wednesday.
Harvinder Singh (42), also known as Sunny, allegedly attempted to steal a woman's purse in an AC coach of the Rewa-Itwari Express in the early hours of Monday while the train was passing through the Jabalpur district, according to a Railway Protection Force (RPF) official.
He was spotted by RPF personnel, but as the train slowed down near the Sihora Road station at 5:15 am, he jumped off and ran, said Inspector Rajiv Kharb.
RPF personnel chased him, but Singh jumped into a pond filled with lotus plants and algae in the Khitoula area.
The RPF personnel then contacted the local police, fearing he had drowned.
Divers were called in, but they were unable to locate him. Finally, Singh was spotted alive around 10:30 am, and was taken into custody.
He may have used lotus stems to breathe while remaining under the surface of the pond, the official said.
Initially, Singh gave a false name and address, but Inspector Kharb produced a photograph of a wanted thief stored on his phone since 2018 and realized that he was the same person.
Singh had been an independent corporator in Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh, from where he hailed, the official said.
He is wanted by the Bhopal Government Railway Police in five cases. He also faces cases in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, among other states. In 2018, he is alleged to have committed a gold and diamond theft of Rs 70 lakh on a train in Visakhapatnam.
He typically targeted AC coaches, hid in toilets to evade ticket checkers, and frequently changed his SIM card. He also changed his stealing route every three months and never carried any identifying documents.
Inspector Kharb said that since Singh's arrest, he has been receiving calls from as far as Kerala, where Singh is wanted in a 2024 train theft case.
