Kailash Prasad after being arrested at Patna Junction on Thursday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Jan. 20: The next time you put your mobile on charge at the railway station, be alert. Criminal gangs may be targeting your cellphone just at that moment.

Charging your mobile on a railway platform can be risky. A man was arrested today from Patna Junction when he was trying to get away with a cellphone that had been put on charge.

Government Railway Police (GRP) have nabbed pickpockets stealing mobiles in the past but this is the first time that they have arrested a man trying to run away with a cellphone put on charge.

The man has been identified as Kailash Prasad (32). He was arrested from platform number one.

GRP inspector Ramakant Prasad said: “A passenger named Ravi Shankar Tiwari was waiting for his train on the platform. He had put his phone on charge. Kailash tried to steal the phone.”

Kailash, a resident of City Chowk area, has been involved in petty crime for quite sometime, said Prasad.

“Passengers often lodge complaints about losing their cellphones in the station. But this is the first case of its kind. Kailash in the kingpin of a gang, we are still to catch the other gang members. They operate mainly in the waiting rooms and other places on the station that have mobile-charging facility,” said Prasad.

Prasad also said this was a new phenomena, where criminals take advantage of the crowd and confusion.

“Stealing mobiles in a common phenomena. But stealing phone put on charge is shocking. Passengers must be careful. They should not roam about leaving their phones on charge,” said Prasad.

The inspector added that the gang members were expert in performing their deed and passengers often did not realise till much later that their phones have been stolen.

Prasad also explained the modus operandi of the gang.

“It is not possible to work alone while perpetrating such crimes. Two or three people are needed to observe the movements of the victim, while one actually does the stealing. It is done in a fraction of a minute,” said Prasad.

Tiwari, who almost lost his mobile today, said: “I was waiting for Poorva Express, which was scheduled to arrive at 7.30am. As the train had been delayed by a couple of hours and the charge on my phone was low, I decided to get it recharged. I had gone to buy a mineral water bottle. When I returned, I found that my cell was missing. I saw Kailash and it struck me that he might have stolen it. I raised an alarm and GRP nabbed him.”