Pune railway robbery cracked via 150 CCTV cameras, 3 arrested
Synopsis
A knife-point robbery at Pune Railway Station was cracked in under 72 hours — not through tipoffs or informants, but through the painstaking review of 150 CCTV cameras spanning the route from Pune to Dombivli East. The case is a textbook example of how dense urban surveillance networks are reshaping crime detection in Indian cities.
Key Takeaways
A senior booking clerk was robbed at knife-point at Pune Railway Station at around 1 a.m. on 18 August ; assailants snatched cash, two mobile phones , and a gold chain .
Bundgarden police reviewed footage from over 150 CCTV cameras to trace the accused from Pune to Dombivli East .
A joint raid by Bundgarden police and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) at 4 a.m. on 21 August led to the arrest of Jitendra Motiram Rathod, 24 , and Ishwar Gorakh Chavan, 23 .
A third accused, relative Ajay Madan Chavan, 35 , was subsequently arrested for allegedly aiding the crime.
Stolen cash and two mobile phones were recovered; further investigation is ongoing.
Bundgarden police have arrested three men in connection with the knife-point robbery of a senior booking clerk at Pune Railway Station, cracking the case in under four days by tracking suspects across more than 150 CCTV cameras from Pune to Dombivli East.
How the Robbery Unfolded
The incident occurred at approximately 1 a.m. on 18 August when two unidentified men allegedly accosted the booking clerk while he was on duty at the railway station. According to police, the assailants brandished a knife, threatened to kill him, and snatched cash, two mobile phones, and a gold chain before fleeing the scene.
A complaint was lodged shortly after the attack, and a case was formally registered at Bundgarden police station. Senior Police Inspector Santosh Pandhare immediately constituted two dedicated teams to trace the suspects.
The CCTV Trail: Pune to Dombivli
Investigators methodically reviewed footage from around 150 CCTV cameras installed along the route between Pune Railway Station and Dombivli East Railway Station. The surveillance trail helped officers obtain clear images of the suspects and reconstruct their movements in the hours following the robbery.
Police personnel Prakash Ahawad and Saras Salvi gathered actionable intelligence indicating the accused had moved into the Manpada police station area of Dombivli East. A joint team of Bundgarden police and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) intelligence branch then zeroed in on the Bhopar Gaon Kamani area.
Arrests and Accused Identified
A pre-dawn raid at around 4 a.m. on 21 August led to the arrest of two suspects: Jitendra Motiram Rathod, 24, originally from Jalgaon, and Ishwar Gorakh Chavan, 23, from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district. Both were residing in Dombivli East at the time of their arrest.
During questioning, the two allegedly admitted their roles in the robbery. Police subsequently established that a relative, Ajay Madan Chavan, 35, had also assisted in the crime. He was arrested in a follow-up operation, bringing the total number of accused to three.
Recoveries and Further Investigation
Police confirmed that the stolen cash and two mobile phones were recovered from the accused. The gold chain's recovery status was not immediately confirmed. Further investigation is currently underway, and police have not ruled out additional leads.
The swift resolution — from crime to arrest in roughly 72 hours — underscores the expanding role of integrated CCTV surveillance networks in solving railway-area crimes across Maharashtra.
Point of View
Two cities, 72 hours. As Indian Railways expands its surveillance infrastructure, the question shifts from whether CCTV deters crime to whether police departments have the bandwidth and training to use footage effectively at scale. That this case was cracked by a joint Bundgarden-RPF team also highlights the value of inter-agency coordination — a model that remains inconsistent across railway zones. The speed of resolution will likely be cited as a success story, but it should also prompt scrutiny of why a railway station booking clerk was working a 1 a.m. shift without visible security cover.
NationPress
25 Aug 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened at Pune Railway Station on 18 August?
Two men allegedly attacked a senior booking clerk with a knife at around 1 a.m. on 18 August, threatening to kill him before snatching cash, two mobile phones, and a gold chain. The accused fled immediately after the robbery.
How did police solve the Pune railway station robbery so quickly?
Bundgarden police reviewed footage from over 150 CCTV cameras along the route from Pune Railway Station to Dombivli East Railway Station, which helped them identify the suspects and track their movements. The case was cracked in under 72 hours.
Who were the three men arrested in the Pune railway robbery case?
The arrested accused are Jitendra Motiram Rathod (24), Ishwar Gorakh Chavan (23), and Ajay Madan Chavan (35). The first two were apprehended in a pre-dawn raid on 21 August; the third was arrested after being identified as an accomplice during questioning.
What was recovered from the accused?
Police confirmed that the stolen cash and two mobile phones were recovered from the accused. Investigation is ongoing, and further recoveries have not been ruled out.
Which police units were involved in the arrests?
A joint team comprising Bundgarden police and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) intelligence branch conducted the raid that led to the initial two arrests in the Bhopar Gaon Kamani area of Dombivli East.
