Mumbai: Switching on stolen mobile phone helps cops nab thief

Representational Pic. iStock

A stolen phone switched on for a minute or two helped Mumbai Police to reach the person who had stolen it, the police said.

According to the police, a 21-year-old suspect had stolen three mobile phones and cash totaling worth of Rs 61,000 from a house in December 2022. The Navghar Police arrested him from the Bhiwandi area.

On December 16, Satish Kharat, a resident of MHADA Colony in Mulund (east) realized that somebody had sneaked into his home and stolen three mobile phones and cash 28,000. He filed a complaint with the police which registered an FIR against unknown suspect. FIR was registered under IPC sections 454 (house breaking), 457 (house breaking at night) 380 (theft), the Navghar Police said.

Senior Inspector Sunil Kamble directed Police Inspector Uttam Rikame to carry out the investigations in the matter and a team led by Assistant Police Inspector Ajit Patil, Police Sub Inspector Dadasaheb Danane, Ganesh Sanap, Santosh Dhadve, Police Constables Vinayak Ambre and Jitendra More was formed. The team started the investigation of the theft case and began to track the mobile phone locations.

During the probe, on the very next day of the theft, the police found one of the mobile phones had been switched on, which the tracked it down to Bhiwandi. The team immediately rushed to the spot and questioned a suspect.

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"He told us that he had met one of his friend who offered him a cell phone at a throwaway price. But when he switched it on he did not find it to be a good phone and immediately switched it off. He told the police that he gave it back to his friend," said PSI Sanap.

"We got the details of his friend and started to hunt for him," he added.

After about 10 days of search, the police nabbed the suspect who was identified as Mohsin Nizam Khan (21), a resident of Shanti Nagar in Bhiwandi.

"The accused is unemployed and had stolen the phone and cash for his different addictions. We have recovered a phone worth Rs 14,000 and the recovery of the rest of the stolen property is going on," said Sunil Kamble, Senior Inspector of Navghar police station.