Mumbai local horror: Man's leg crushed after phone thief drags him off speeding train

A harrowing incident unfolded on the Central Railway in Maharashtra’s Thane district when a passenger lost his balance and fell from a moving local train following a brazen mobile phone snatching, NDTV has reported. The event occurred on Aug 3 between Shahad and Ambivali stations, sending shockwaves among the daily commuters of Mumbai’s vast suburban rail network.

According to NDTV, the victim Gaurav Nikam, was seated near the train door when the thief struck. Describing the ordeal, Nikam said, “Someone pulled my hand and snatched the phone and I fell.” In further comments cited by NDTV, he recounted, “I was clinging to the door. Then I fell here.” Visuals from the scene have captured Nikam lying close to the tracks, with severe injuries to both his legs, including one foot reported as completely crushed.

The swift-moving train and the shock of the theft left Nikam unable to regain his balance despite efforts to hold onto the door. He is currently undergoing treatment in hospital as the Kalyan branch of the Government Railway Police launches an investigation into the incident, intensifying their search for the perpetrator.

Mobile phone robbery on Mumbai’s suburban railways has long been a high-frequency crime, with the authorities attributing many such incidents to drug-dependent offenders and members of organised crime rings, including interstate gangs. Information from Government Railway Police figures reveals that more than 26,000 mobile phones were stolen on the railway network between January 2023 and May 2025.

Despite these staggering figures, police authorities report a slight dip in thefts, with cases declining by approximately 10 percent from 12,159 in 2023 to 10,891 in 2024. However, phone snatchings persist, as evidenced by 3,508 such incidents already logged through May of this year on Mumbai’s suburban trains.

Mumbai’s local rail system, widely regarded as the city’s ‘lifeline’, is known for severe congestion and overcrowding - conditions which not only heighten passenger discomfort but also expose them to dangers such as theft. Issues plaguing the network have drawn sharp criticism from the judiciary as well; last year, the Bombay High Court remarked with dismay that it was “ashamed to see commuters forced to travel like cattle in the local trains”.