Railway cops make 17-year-old run around for stolen phone

Gulfam Ansari

A 17-year-old Std X student is losing out on precious study time, as he has been running from pillar to post to get his stolen mobile phone back. The lackadaisical attitude and arrogance of the police are to blame, as the Bandra and Valsad (Gujarat) GRP have been sending the boy back and forth between them.

Gulfam Ansari, a resident of 90 Feet Road in Dharavi, was on his way back home from his native place in Patna on the Humsafar Express on October 10 when his phone, which he had plugged in to charge inside the coach, was stolen. The minor realised his phone was gone only after the train reached Bandra Terminus in the wee hours of October 11.

Back and forth
Speaking to mid-day, he said he had plugged the phone in to charge, when the train reached Valsad station, and gone to sleep. "When I woke up in Bandra, it was gone. I went to the GRP to lodge a complaint but they refused to, saying I should go to the Valsad GRP instead," he added.

After much pleading they agreed but asked him to bring his parents with him on October 12 for the same as he was a minor. Gulfam said, "I searched the train in the yard but in vain. I then saw that there was a CCTV installed inside. So I requested the Bandra GRP to look at the footage." RPF officers scanned the footage and saw that the person sitting in the seat opposite the boy had taken the phone and alighted at Bandra.

"I requested GRP officers to get passenger details with the help of PNR number, but they once again asked me to go to the Valsad GRP, saying my case was going to be transferred there," he added.

When he went to Valsad station, officers told him that his FIR copy had not been transferred to them yet, and hence, they can't start the probe until the copy and CCTV footage was sent across.

"All my study material is inside the phone; I have no option but to keep running after the cops. Both the GRP and RPF aren't cooperating at all," the teenager rued.

Policespeak
Senior inspector, Bandra GRP, Sunil Jadhav, however, said, "We transferred the case to the Valsad GRP as not only does the theft seem to have taken place there but also his phone's current location has come up in Valsad."

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