Overview
- The suspect, who fled RPF at Sihora station on Monday after an alleged purse theft on Train 11753, was pulled from a nearby pond nearly five hours later with help from divers.
- He was later identified as Harvinder Singh of Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, through the Interoperable Criminal Justice System, and he remains in RPF custody under a Railway Act case pending remand before a Special Railway Magistrate.
- Investigators say Singh is a repeat inter-state offender with cases under IPC Sections 379 and 411 and multiple outstanding warrants flagged to GRP units in Bhopal, Itarsi, Ujjain, Igatpuri and Visakhapatnam.
- Officials describe a pattern in which he boards without a ticket, targets women and elderly passengers in AC coaches, hides in toilets to dodge checks, and swaps SIM cards while carrying no ID.
- Police reported he stayed hidden under pond algae and may have breathed through a hollow lotus stem to avoid being seen.