The Government Railway Police (GRP) have arrested a notorious high-profile thief involved in a series of thefts targeting sleeping passengers aboard long-distance trains, particularly in AC coaches.
The accused has been identified as Pranjal Dixit, a BTech graduate and foreign-returned professional from Lucknow, who allegedly turned to crime after developing an addiction to online gaming and betting.
Railway Superintendent of Police Rahul Kumar Lodha said that on January 20, a complaint was lodged by Afsha Begum (52), a resident of Agra, who was travelling in the AC-1 coach of the Rajdhani Express from Agra to Mumbai. At Bhopal railway station, an unidentified miscreant allegedly stole her purse containing gold jewellery, Rs35,000 in cash, and important documents, with the total loss estimated at Rs3.40 lakh.
Following the complaint, GRP teams analysed footage from nearly 200 CCTV cameras, which led them to identify and detain Pranjal Dixit. During interrogation, Dixit confessed to committing multiple thefts during different train journeys.
Police revealed that Dixit had completed his engineering degree from Pune University, worked abroad for some time, and later returned to India. He allegedly began committing thefts after suffering heavy financial losses due to online gaming addiction.
During the arrest, GRP recovered gold jewellery worth approximately Rs7 lakh, including a mangalsutra pendant, two gold chains, a pair of earrings, and two gold rings. The accused reportedly admitted that the stolen cash had been lost through online betting.
GRP officials have registered four theft cases against Dixit so far. He has been produced before the court and remanded to police custody for further interrogation to determine his involvement in other similar train theft cases.
