- A thief caught after hiding underwater for five hours using a lotus stalk to breathe
- The accused attempted to steal a purse on the Rewa-Itwari Express near Sihora station
- RPF, local police, and divers conducted a prolonged operation to capture the suspect
Night. A moving train. An AC coach. Silence broken only by the faint hum of steel on tracks. And then, like a scene straight out of a thriller, the story begins. Inside Coach A-2 of the Rewa-Itwari Express, a shadow moves with precision. A hand inches toward a sleeping passenger's purse. But fate intervenes. The woman wakes up. Eyes lock. A split-second pause. And then action.
In an incident that unfolded like a gripping thriller, a daring attempt by an inter-state thief to evade arrest ended in a dramatic capture after he hid underwater for nearly five hours using a lotus stalk to breathe. The high-voltage chase, involving the Railway Protection Force (RPF), local police, and divers, took place near Sihora railway station on April 6.
The sequence began inside the AC coach of the Rewa-Itwari Express, where the accused allegedly attempted to steal a woman passenger's purse. Just as he made his move, the passenger woke up, triggering panic. With the train slowing near Sihora station, the accused jumped off and fled, setting off an immediate chase by RPF personnel.
What followed stunned even seasoned officers. In a desperate bid to escape, the accused leapt into a nearby pond densely covered with moss and disappeared from sight. As search teams reached the spot, there was no trace of him on the water's surface, raising suspicions of a well-planned escape.
However, the accused had executed an extraordinary survival tactic. He had submerged himself completely underwater, breathing through a hollow lotus stalk to avoid detection. For nearly five hours, he remained hidden beneath the thick green cover, turning the pond into a near-perfect camouflage.
With the situation escalating, the RPF alerted local police, and a team of divers was deployed. After an intense and prolonged operation, divers finally located and pulled the accused out from beneath the moss-laden water, bringing the dramatic manhunt to an end.
The story took an even more startling turn during interrogation. Initially identifying himself as 'Bablu' from Chandigarh, the accused attempted to mislead investigators. However, RPF Station In-charge Rajiv Kharab grew suspicious and recalled a photograph of a wanted criminal saved on his phone. The moment he addressed the accused by an old alias, 'Sunny', the man fell silent and eventually revealed his true identity as Harvinder Singh.
According to officials, Harvinder Singh, 32, is a resident of Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh and a seasoned criminal with a staggering record of over 400 thefts across the country, spanning from Kerala to Jammu. In a surprising twist, he had also served as an independent Ward Councilor in the Haldaur Nagar Panchayat in 2017.
Police records reveal that in 2018, diamonds and jewellery worth Rs 70 lakh were recovered from his possession. He is also accused of stealing a licensed pistol and cash from a passenger aboard the Avantika Express. His modus operandi involved targeting AC coaches, travelling without tickets, and hiding in train restrooms to evade detection. After the installation of CCTV cameras, he reportedly stopped booking tickets altogether to avoid leaving a digital trail.
RPF In-charge Rajiv Kharab said, "The incident is of April 6. The accused boarded the train from Jabalpur; he had come from Delhi on the Gondwana Express. Later, he tried to steal a woman passenger's purse from Coach A-2. The passenger woke up just as the train was about to reach Sihora station, and the accused jumped off the train and tried to escape. Our staff immediately chased him. There is a pond there, and he jumped into it and remained inside for five hours. RPF staff informed the local police station, and with the help of the police administration and divers, he was brought out. After his arrest, when we brought him to Jabalpur, he gave completely false details about his name and address. He is a very cunning criminal. When we checked records, we found a newspaper cutting from Kota which revealed his real name as Harvinder Singh, a resident of Bijnor, UP. He never carries any ID proof and does not book reservations while travelling by train. During interrogation, he told us that earlier he used to travel with reservations, but ever since CCTV cameras were installed, he stopped booking reservations and also stopped taking online tickets because that leads to identification. So far, 21 cases are registered against him in Maharashtra, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, with GRP Bhopal, GRP Igatpuri, and GRP Itarsi."
For years, he outsmarted the system. But this time, the script changed. A pond, a lotus stalk, and a five-hour gamble ended by a team that refused to give up. And just like that, a master of disappearances was finally brought back to the surface.
