GUWAHATI: The Railway Protection Force (RPF), Guwahati, has arrested a man in connection with the theft of gold jewellery from a passenger aboard a train and recovered stolen ornaments worth approximately ₹6.5 lakh, officials said on Tuesday, July 21.
The incident dates back to June 2, when passenger Laila Khatun filed a complaint through the RailMadad portal alleging that her handbag, containing gold jewellery, had been stolen from her berth on Train No. 15910 while it was stationed at Guwahati Railway Station.
Following the complaint, the RPF launched an investigation and analysed CCTV footage from the railway station. Based on the footage, officials identified a suspect and circulated his images among the Crime Prevention and Detection Squad (CPDS) and the Crime Intelligence Branch (CIB) of the Guwahati RPF for further action.
The breakthrough came on July 21, when a joint RPF team, during preventive surveillance near the West Cabin on the Fancy Bazar side of Guwahati Railway Station, spotted and apprehended the suspect.
“Officers intercepted and apprehended 32-year-old Rabbul Islam, a resident of Silpukhuri under Mikirbhita Police Station in Morigaon district, Assam. A personal search on the spot yielded six gold ornaments hidden in his possession,” an official said.
During interrogation, Islam allegedly confessed to stealing the handbag from the train on June 2. He further disclosed that he had handed over the remaining stolen jewellery to his wife, Khairun Nahar, who had pledged the ornaments at a non-banking financial company (NBFC) branch in Lanka to obtain a gold loan of ₹1,24,900.
Acting on the information, the RPF verified the claim and recovered five more gold ornaments along with the related gold loan documents.
In total, officials recovered 11 pieces of gold jewellery, including finger rings, earrings, a nose pin, a locket, a tikka and other ornaments, with an estimated value of around ₹6.5 lakh.
The accused, his wife, the recovered jewellery and the seizure documents have been handed over to the Government Railway Police (GRP), Guwahati, for further investigation.
The GRP has registered Case No. 150/26 under Sections 305(c), 317(2) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and further legal proceedings are underway.