Unique modus-operandi to steal cell phones of rail passengers

Next time you travel by a suburban train between Basin Bridge and Vyasarpadi or Korukkupet, make sure you do not speak over the mobile phone standing near the footboard — your phone may be stolen à la Kakka Muttai using a stick.

Anyone who has seen the award-winning movie would not have missed the sequence in which a group of children rob the mobile phone of foot-board travellers with the help of a stick. “A gang really thrives using such a modus operandi,” a senior police officer said.

Members of this gang wait with a stick along the track and knock the phone down while a commuter speaks on mobile phone standing on the footboard.

“The commuter will not be able to jump from the moving train. The phones are then sold in the local market,” the officer added.

A few of them were arrested by the Chennai Central Government Railway Police (GRP) early this month, and most of them were in their late teens. “During interrogation, we found that they used to target trains that slow down for signal or for giving way to another,” an officer said.

Most of the youngsters are from the slums along the railway tracks and indulge in such crime owing to peer pressure and for easy money. Meanwhile, M. Manikandan, director of Kakka Muttai, said he decided to use the particular modus-operandi in the movie after undertaking research in the area for the film.

“I spoke to many youngsters living in the slums to find out what they do without the knowledge of their parents. Some said they stole charcoal, copper wires, and spare parts from abandoned vehicles. Then someone mentioned about this group that uses the method to steal phones,” he added. Since he found it interesting, the film-maker used it in his movie. “I rented a train and 150 people were featured in the robbery scene. It was among the costliest scenes in the movie,” Mr. Manikandan said.