Every second
mobile phone user has been a victim of Mobile thefts in India. Even I fall in the victim list, but I am also
one of the lucky ones who has successfully recovered their mobile phone. My experience with mobile phone theft is one
of the most memorable incident of my
life. With each passing day life teaches you many things and it is one of the most
beneficial thing which has happened to me, which I am going to share with you
all. The beneficial thing is that, I
have started respecting my belongings and now god has kept me at a place where
I can guide others when you LOSE YOUR MOBILE PHONES.
On 4th
July 2010 I was returning from CST Slow local waiting to get down at Ghatkopar
Station. As soon as the train was about
to reach the station , I could sense a harsh push on my right shoulder and then
later one hand started to push me over my head.
To Retialite I removed my right hand from my pocket in which I was
holding my Cell phone. In fraction of
15secs I pushed over the hand which was pushing me from back – I got down at
the station-I inserted my hand again in the right pocket & the phone was
stolen (phew!!!) I caught hold of four
people, but the damage was already done, I guess someone in the train itself J
The panic button shooted up and I could see all the important contacts, images, personal data flying around my head . I went to ghatkopar RPF station where they said we don’t accept complaints you have to go to Kurla RPF to lodge a complaint. I went down to Kurla railway station where I got to know the requirement of handset bill is necessary to lodge a complaint, I was like okhh – How innocent I was..The next day when I went there I wanted to lodge a FIR which the police refused and started giving me CR no. stamped on the application letter and with more insistence their behavior got aggressive and made me wait for 1 hour and later the havaldar says you will have to come tomorrow as our Senior has already left. The next day mom accompanied me as she was furious about the cops behavior. Meanwhile I met Sr. PI Samsher Singh Pathan (now retired as ACP) who had helped one lady finding her phone and also I came in contact of one fraudster on web, who claimed to find phones through IMEI no.s. The Kurla Senior PI wanted to talk to my mom to warn me that if we proceed with logding a FIR then we would have to follow many procedures, go to the court on dates and hire a advocate etc. But we were ready to do all the procedure and later the FIR was registered.
Later after 10 days I
got a call from Kurla Detection that my phone has been recovered and needs to
be claimed through Court procedure which I followed and received my stolen
mobile phone on 22nd July 2010.
In my case I
was a victim of mobile theft racket but losing phone in rickshaw/bus gets
difficult for the police to trace the stolen mobile. But the question is when
are they going to use the technology.
So please follow the safety instructions :-
·
While travelling in public transport try keeping
your valuables in your front portion [never in your shirt’s front pocket – the
thieves play with your belongings before stealing them - tip by a police informer]
·
Always keep your both the hands free, thieves
generally target such people whoz hands are occupied either with childrens or
baggage – specially on Sundays. Most sensitive stations are Dadar, Kurla,
Mulund, Thane and from dadar to CST.
·
The modus operandi where one stands in the front
of the target, one behind the target and two other on both the sides. If your
belonging is on the left side of your pocket then persons standing on your
right hand side will try to poke you, push you and would try to distract
you. The moment when they steal your belongings[mobile/wallet]
you would never find with the person standing around you. It is passed to other
in fraction of seconds the moment it is stolen.
If you accuse the persons standing around you then they only would
create a big tamasha and would ask you to check them. While all this is
happening the person who has kept the belonging moves away.
·
Keep your mobile phone bill and Imei no. handy
or atleast in your gmail account so that you can print it and submit a theft
report on the spot.
·
Generally , when people go to the police station
to report a mobile theft, they ask you to write a application and they stamp
and sign on it as received with the CR. No.
But the main difference between the application and the FIR means that they have received the request and would
look into the matter. [it claimes that the property has been lost/or misplaced
by the applicationer] but in FIR it directly claims that the mobile phone has
been stolen by unknown person and the cops have to close the case, as they have
to report the total no. of FIR’s logded in their jurisdiction to their seniors.
·
At court recently when I went to close the case,
such pretty faces of young accused(guy
in his in 20’s sporting a white tshirt and jeans, gal in nice salwar kurti)
will surprise you that they are also accused of robbery in trains.
Happy
Travelling and safe travelling in Amchi Mumbai…It is indeed one of the safest
place in our country but for one who wants to be safe!!! – Nikhil Vijay Kavita
Sakat
Chasing Dreams Pvt. Ltd.
