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In a remarkable operation reminiscent of military tactics, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) apprehended an inter-state thief who had hidden himself in a pond. The suspect, a resident of Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh, has 21 criminal cases registered against him, with over a dozen pending investigations. Previously, he served as a municipal councilor.

According to RPF Station Officer Rajiv Kharb, RPF personnel on duty at the Sihora railway station noticed a suspicious individual disembarking from train number 11753 around 4:50 AM. He was allegedly attempting to steal a woman's purse inside the train. When the RPF officers pursued him, he jumped into a pond covered with algae near the local market to evade capture, submerging himself for hours and using a hollow lotus stem to breathe.

The suspect is believed to be the mastermind behind numerous thefts, including an attempted purse snatching at the Jabalpur railway station. After spending five hours submerged, he was eventually located and rescued by divers called in by the local police. Even after emerging from the water, he attempted to flee, prolonging the operation to over five hours.

During initial questioning, he tried to mislead investigators about his identity. However, he was identified as Harvinder Singh, 32, from Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, through an English newspaper. Notably, he had previously won a councilor election in Bijnor in 2017.