MUMBAI: In the aftermath of the horrific murder of a young passenger on a local train, the Govt Railway Police (GRP) plans to intensify checks of commuter bags on the suburban section to rule out the presence of weapons.Late on Tuesday, 21-year-old Mayank Lohar was knifed to death by a co-traveller, Roshan Suvarna, following an altercation over closing the door of the train compartment amid heavy rain. Suvarna had been carrying the knife in his bag.A senior GRP official said that following their proposal to the Railways, additional baggage scanners have already been installed at major termini like Mumbai Central, CSMT etc., for examining suitcases and trolley bags. But it may not be practically possible to use baggage scanners at suburban stations for checking smaller bags and backpacks.The GRP plans to intensify manual checks of smaller bags and backpacks to rule out the presence of weapons or any other prohibited items. The GRP will follow a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that was introduced last year for baggage checks, mandating the presence of an officer during such checks and requiring that the checks be carried within the range of surveillance cameras.Additionally, the GRP also plans to kick off a campaign where they will address commuters on safe travel and appeal to them to not carry any work tools.In Jan this year, a college teacher, Alok Kumar Singh, was stabbed to death by a co-passenger, Omkar Shinde, over a trivial altercation about alighting.Shinde had used a small pair of tongs used in diamond sorting as a murder weapon. “Due to overcrowding and delayed services, tempers often flareup in local trains and a work tool could end up being usedas a weapon to cause harm. We want to appeal to people to leave these tools at their place of work and not commute with them,” said an officer.On Friday, GRP commissioner Rakesh Kalasagar carried out a security review at Borivali railway station. He also met members of passenger welfare associations to discuss security-related issues faced in the suburbansection.
