Mumbai: Dressed in a salwar kameez and with greying hair, she appeared to be the quintessential neighbourhood grandmother, blending effortlessly into the bustling chaos of Mumbai’s local trains. But, behind this unassuming facade lay an unlikely criminal. Anaga Joshi, 65, snatched gold chains from women commuters in local trains. Upon being arrested by the Government Railway Police (GRP), she revealed that personal tragedy had forced her into crime.Joshi lived in a middle-class Pune neighbourhood. She lost her son to an anccident and subsequently, her husband to alcoholism. She did not have funds to meet her day-to-day expenses. But she did not want to give up her home and lifestyle.The senior citizen then mapped out a bizarrely superstitious operation. She worked exclusively on the first and third Saturdays of the month, believing other days were not lucky enough for her operation. She commuted miles from Pune to Mumbai to snatch ornaments from unsuspecting commuters in local trains here. She would then return to Pune to sell them, convincing jewellers of their legitimacy through her appearance.On May 2, the Mumbai Central GRP received a complaint from a banker about her gold chain and pendant getting stolen at Dadar station on the Western line. The 44-year-old complainant had been to south Mumbai to purchase incense sticks. While heading home, she was boarding the second-class ladies compartment of a Borivli slow train from Dadar around 2:40pm when someone took advantage of the crowd to snatch her ornaments valued at Rs 67,000.Another incident occurred on June 6, when a finance executive trying to board a Borivli slow local from Dadar felt her mangalsutra and gold chain being tugged and broken. Alighting from the train, she recovered a few pieces of her jewellery on the platform, but the remainder, worth Rs 89,000, was missing. Following her complaint, police teams under the supervision of DCP Sunita Salunke-Thakre and senior inspector Ravindra Katkar combed through CCTV footage at the station.Investigators were stumped to discover an elderly woman milling around the ladies compartment during both instances. They kept a watch on her movements and apprehended her as she attempted to target a third commuter.Following her arrest, Joshi disclosed a prior criminal stint nearly two decades ago, when she had been involved in chain snatching briefly. She led the GRP teams to Pune where she had sold the stolen gold to jewellers. The ornaments were recovered by the police. Joshi is presently in judicial custody.
