mumbai the benefits of forming a railway police commission for the city became apparent on friday when 75 victims of thefts on trains got their stolen property back at a function on friday thanks to the formation of a crime branch in the mumbai railway police commissionerate lawenforcers busted five gangs operating in trains consequently 70 mobile phones eight gold chains and several bags stolen from commuters were recovered over the past two months the invitees were visibly pleased to receive their stolen property at the hands of s chakravarty special inspectorgeneral railways i had lost all hopes of ever getting my mobile phone back said sk sharma whose cell phone was snatched from his belt as he forced his way into a crowded local train in january the police took special pains to get the courts permission to hand over the stolen property to the owners before the case was disposed of among the gangs busted was one which made away with the victims luggage after rendering him unconscious with the help of cream biscuits or cold drinks laced with stupefying drugs the fivemember gang was arrested from madhya pradesh and it has confessed to 100 cases said rakesh maria commissioner of mumbai railway police the railway police has identified 30 of their victims and has urged the public to come forward with unreported cases especially in northbound trains originating from mumbai it has also warned passengers not to accept food or water from strangers however friendly they may seem the police also busted a gang of baglifters which operated in the mumbaipunemumbai section four persons have been arrested in this connection and 18 cases solved the gang members stole the bags of dozing passengers and threw them down the gorge at monkey hill bhor ghat after emptying them of valuables in fact the police went down the ravines and was able to retrieve documents from some of the bags which enabled them to locate the victims two women constables from the vasai unit of the crime branch were instrumental in nabbing chainsnatchers who operated in the womens compartments between mumbai central and borivli as many as 22 cases have been solved and gold chains worth rs 1 lakh have been recovered so far however the court has yet to grant permission to return these to the victims several officers and constables received cash prizes and commendatory certificates from mr chakravarty for their detection work prominent among them were assistant police inspector rakesh sharma of mumbai central railway police subinspector sv satpute of bandra senior inspector rs tadvi of cst constables maya kadam and sujata mane of vasai and inspector vg rane of the railway police crime branch