Mumbai auto-rickshaw driver loses entire savings after passenger steals his phone

Acchelal Yadav, the driver, says he wants justice. He claims the cops are doing nothing to help him

A 35-year-old auto-rickshaw driver has been struggling for justice since mid-January, when a person posed as a passenger and later snatched his mobile phone. The driver later found his bank account had also been cleaned out. To add to this, the driver, Acchelal Yadav, claimed the police manipulated the facts and lodged a theft case when it amounts to robbery, as the mobile phone was snatched by the passenger. The Nirmal Nagar police have denied they manipulated facts.

Yadav, a native of Varanasi who stays in Kurla, plies an autorickshaw in Mumbai. "I was waiting for a passenger in Kurla late on January 16 when a young boy told me to take him to Bandra East. During his journey, he kept asking me details about my savings and if I accept online payment. I did not know he would target me," said Yadav.

He said the boy told him to stop when they reached Khar East around 10.30pm. "My phone was tucked in the auto-rickshaw's handle. The moment I looked back to check my meter, the passenger grabbed my phone and ran away. He disappeared in a dark, narrow lane of Maratha colony in Khar East. He did not even pay the fare of Rs 150. I was shocked but did not dare to enter the lane," Yadav said.

Yadav claimed when he narrated his ordeal, the on-duty officer at Nirmal Nagar plice sation registered a Non-Cognisable (NC) offence early on January 17. "I also did not press much to register an FIR, as I knew the phone would not be recovered," Yadav said.

He planned to buy a new phone. "At the ATM booth where I went to withdraw the cash to buy a new phone, the transactions failed as there was no balance. I retrieved my bank details and learnt that exactly 30 minutes after my mobile was snatched, the crook made three transactions and transferred R26,500 in total."

Yadav, who barely earns s Rs 500 a day, again went to Nirmal Nagar police station on January 17 with a complaint letter. "The on-duty police officer, Satish Thorat, manipulated the facts and filed an FIR under Section 379 (theft) of IPC, when it was a clear case of robbery (Section 392). He did not pay heed to me," Yadav said.

Since the money was transferred through Unified Payment Interface (UPI), it was easier for police to trace the details of the user, who was called in by the Cyber Cell at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), but he was not arrested, said Yadav.

Yadav claimed that the Cyber Cell police retrieved the details of the account where the money was transferred to. "The account holder, Mohammad Shabir Ayub, who stays in Bharat Nagar at Bandra East, was called in by Cyber Cell police. He told police that someone had approached him seeking cash and told him the amount [R26,500] would be transferred to his (Ayub) bank account. Later, the person took the cash from him," Yadav said.

"This was possible only if they knew each other. Had the police interrogated Ayub strictly, he would have revealed his nexus with the robber who posed as a passenger on January 16 in my auto," Yadav said. He said he has been following up with the police about his case every week, but nothing has been done.

When asked about Yadav's allegations, PSI Thorat said, "We have registered the FIR based on Yadav's statement. Nothing has been manipulated. The matter is under investigation."

Rs 26k
Amount withdrawn from Yadav's account