RailEnquiry

Eight days after an American woman was allegedly attacked and robbed inside a moving suburban train, the Railway Police on Monday claimed to have cracked the case with the arrest of a drug addict from Masjid Bunder in south Mumbai.“Rajkumar Tiwari (31) was picked up outside the Masjid Bunder station on Sunday on suspicion during a combing operation. Upon interrogation, he confessed to the crime, following which he was placed under arrest on Sunday night,” said Government Railway Police Deputy Commissioner of Police B. Shirsath.Tiwari was produced before a court, which remanded him in police custody till August 30, the officer said, adding that the victim’s mobile phone was yet to be recovered.He had slashed the neck and cheek of U.S. national Michelle Marks after she refused to part with her iPhone while travelling in the first class ladies’ compartment of a Borivali-bound local train around 5 p.m. on August 18.The accused jumped out of the train as it slowed down at Charni Road. According to the police, Marks was alone in the compartment as it was a Sunday.

Marks, who resides at Goregaon, works with an NGO and has been in Mumbai for the past one year . She had gone to Colaba for a prayer meet on the day of the attack.

Tiwari claimed that he had handed over the iPhone to his drug supplier, a woman, in exchange for Rs.300, the police said adding, “We have also detained the woman he was talking about and are verifying facts.” — PTI