Title - Poop goes the weasel

The trains targeted are those starting from Karjat and the pervert hits twice a week on an average; the last reported incident was on Thursday.

A pervert, presumably a man, who routinely throws Central Railway schedules into disarray by crapping in the ladies' compartments of trains starting from Karjat is now at the centre of a massive manhunt launched by the railway police.The sicko smears the entire compartment with the poop, leading to a time-consuming clean-up job that not only delays that train, but sets back time-tables of a minimum of 16 to 20 more trains by 15 to 30 minutes.It was in April when the CR was first hit by this freak trouble and it was dismissed by officials as a one-off incident. However, since then, the man has hit the services twice a week on an average, forcing railway bosses to set up a special team to track him.The last incident was reported on Thursday when women at Neral refused to board the 7 am CST train because of the awful smell in the ladies compartment. The station officials did not even need to check what the problem was - they knew their man had hit again. Since there was no cleaning staff available at Neral, the Kalyan station manager was alerted.The train left Kalyan at 8.30 am after a thorough cleaning. The disruption, however, had a cascading effect, and nearly 20 services through the day were delayed by 15 to 30 minutes.

Sheela Patankar, who works in Nariman Point, said Thursday was the second time she was delayed. "It's sickening. This man is unhinged and must be sent to a mental asylum," she said.

Patankar's assessment matches that of Mukesh Nigam, Divisional Railway Manager, CR. "This man is mentally disturbed. And yes, our investigations have revealed it is probably the handiwork of just one man. But then, one can't be sure," he said.

Psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty said it's an immense amount of anger at work. "This man is no just mentally ill, he is on the verge of a breakdown. He gets some pleasure out of leaving women angry and disturbed."

Describing the difficulty in catching the pervert, Nigam said the railway police have concluded that the man enters trains parked in sidings between Karjat and Diva. "That's 57 km. There are five sidings (parking areas for trains) between Karjat and Diva - Karjat, Thakurli, Titwala, Ambernath and Kalyan. Nearly 27 rakes are parked across these sidings. It's a nightmare patrolling such a large area," said a senior CR official.

Another CR officer, who did not wish to be identified, said apart from increased patrolling, he has asked the Eureka Forbes staff, who clean trains, to keep a watch. "We have told them to wait till the trains leave. But it has been of little help."

The CR has been hit by this stink bomb just after they caught a boy who used to tamper with junction boxes, stalling trains. "It took months to catch him. He is just 16. He did it for fun," said a senior railway police officer.

Senior Divisional Security Commissioner, CR, Alok Bohra, is confident that the man defecating in women's compartments will also be caught soon. "Patrolling between Karjat and Diva has been intensified. Ihave instructed all my men to keep a watch. Since we have a time window when this happens, we will focus more resources during that period. We will get him," he said.