MUMBAI: A 21-year-old law student fell off a local at Kurla station after a phone thief targeted her on Tuesday night. She suffered head injuries and is in shock. Alert RPF personnel noticed the commotion on the platform and chased the accused, nabbing him. The accused, Umesh Gawli (21), turned out to be a history sheeter with at least nine past offences. He lives in Chunabhatti. His mother and two brothers have criminal records too.

The woman, who interns with a law firm in Parel, was headed home after work. She had boarded the first-class ladies coach. Around 8.15pm, as the train reached Kurla, she stood near the exit as she wanted to alight at Vidyavihar. A man boarded the coach, and as she got distracted receiving a call, snatched the phone and jumped off. Since the earphones were plugged in, she got dragged out and fell on the platform.

Mobile theft accused already has nine cases against him

A man got into the coach. All the commuters yelled at him and told him to alight as the coach was reserved for women. But he did not react and wouldn’t budge,” the woman’s father told TOI. Around that time, her phone rang. The man snatched it, just as the train started, and jumped off.

“My daughter had put the phone on the handsfree mode. As the man started to run away with it, she got dragged along and fell on the platform. She hit her head on the platform and began to bleed,” her father said. There was commotion on the platform and two RPF personnel noticed the thief trying to escape. They chased him along with a Maharashtra Security Force (MSF) jawan and nabbed him. Two other RPF personnel rushed the victim to Rajawadi Hospital where she was admitted and administered five stitches.

The victim’s family is based in Pune. “We will be taking her home with us. Her condition is stable but doctors have kept her under observation for 24 hours,” said the victim's father, a railway employee.

“The accused was brought to the RPF post where the stolen phone was recovered from him,” said Suresh Atri, senior inspector, Kurla RPF. The RPF checked their records and found he was booked in nine cases of theft, robbery and drug possession at Wadala, Kurla and Kalyan GRP and Nehru Nagar city police station. One of his brothers died in prison. Gawli’s custody has been handed to Kurla GRP.” Praja Foundation data showed maximum railway crimes at Kurla GRP post between 2013 and 2017.