Police find it difficult to control online “escorts”

Constable S G Shaikh of Mumbai will be suspended after failing to show up on time to escort the women’s section of a local headed toward Churchgate early on Thursday. The victim, Apurva Medda, 25, had four stitches after suffering a forehead wound. Additionally, some guys have been detained and interrogated. Using software, the GRP is enlarging CCTV images of the suspect that they have taken at Mira Road station. From 4.56:23am, the suspect can be seen waiting near the second class ladies compartment while wearing a striped t-shirt, black pants, and chappals. The suspect leaves the compartment two seconds later, but the train is still visible waiting on the platform. According to the GRP, he moved to determine why the signal had not turned green. The suspect is spotted boarding the ladies section at 4:56:28. He does not then have the foot-long stick he used to beat Medda. Although no other passengers were spotted entering the compartment, some male commuters entered a nearby general compartment (located toward the Virar end). We looked at recent CCTV footage, but the suspect is not seen at the train station. Three teams working on the case and informants have been given copies of his images, according to a top officer. The GRP is considering two scenarios: either the suspect was on his way home from a pub or he had just committed a burglary in a rural area of Thane. We are displaying Medda images of previous criminals who may have operated in a similar manner. Drug abusers are also being interrogated, according to an official. Shaikh (57), who is set to retire this year, spent the previous night’s shift sleeping over at Dahisar station. We have 69 groups of escorts on WR (two GRP employees and a house guard). Although they lack adequate sleeping accommodations at the stations, attendance has increased ever since we began maintaining records at intermediate stations and suspended a police officer for incompetence last year, according to ACP Pradeep Bijwe, GRP (Western Railway).