Mumbai: Mulund woman chases down phone thieves, gets one arrested

The spot in Mulund where social worker Ranjana Kale (inset) caught the accused (inset) Naresh Parmar. Pics/Rajesh Gupta

A 34-year-old social worker from Mulund chased down two mobile thieves in an autorickshaw on Wednesday night and got one of them arrested, after seeing them snatch the phone from a pedestrian's hand and flee. The arrested accused has been identified as Naresh Parmar, 19.

Ranjana Kale said the incident happened when she was walking home. "It happened right in front of my eyes, and I knew I had to act. I immediately hailed an auto and asked the man to come along. We started tailing the two bike-borne youths, who had no idea we were behind," she said, adding that after around five kilometres, they stopped the bike and one of them got off. He was seemingly scanning the phone to switch it off.

"I too got down, approached him and asked 'Bachcha, have you passed your HSC exam?'. He was so taken aback by the question that he stared at me for a while, trying to remember if he knew me. Taking advantage of his confusion, I caught his collar. He, however, handed me the phone and broke free of my grip. By this time, the other had already fled."

Kale, however, lunged for Parmar again and caught him. He slipped away a second time, but, not one to give up, she caught him a third time and managed to hold on. She then handed him over to the Mulund police. An officer said, "We have arrested the accused for theft and are searching for the other one. We are also checking if Parmar has a record."

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