The Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel arrested a 26-year-old autorickshaw driver of Vyasarpadi who was involved in the theft of mobile phones and laptops from passengers waiting in the Dr. MGR Chennai Central railway station, on Monday (July 14, 2025).

The video of the RPF personnel chasing and arresting the accused man went viral on the social media. 

A senior official of the RPF said V. Joshua is a resident of Samiyar Thottam in Vyasarpadi and drives autorickshaw for a living. He would park his autorickshaw in the Central railway station to pick up passengers from the station but he was stealing mobile phones and laptops using the heavy crowd as a shield.

On Sunday, a team of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) that was on patrol duty learnt about few passengers complaining about theft of their mobile phones. Based on the CCTV footage, they identified the culprit as Joshua and when he attempted to steal from passengers on Monday, the RPF team arrested him. The RPF recovered five mobile phones and a laptop from the accused.

Later, they handed over Joshua to the Central Government Railway Police for judicial action.