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Tech-savvy Bathinda nurse tracks down phone snatcher in 4 days
With the help of a tracking app on her phone and CCTV footage that captured the snatcher’s scooter number, Nitika Sharma hunted down his address in Bathinda and retrieved her phone
Not daunted by lack of prompt cooperation by police, a gritty 26-year-old nurse, armed with cyber literacy, tracked down a teenager who had made off with her smartphone near Bathinda’s Pratap Nagar four days ago.
Her phone had important professional and personal data, so she was not going to let it go, said Nitika Sharma, a native of Bathinda and currently working in Delhi.
Sharma was in Pratap Nagar on February 4, when a scooter-borne teenager snatched her phone from her brother’s hands. If only for this moment, her mobile phone was equipped with a tracking app that helped her trace him to Paras Ram Nagar area.
She immediately rushed to the Canal police station to file a complaint, following which a constable was sent with her to the spot, where they managed to secure CCTV footage of the snatcher and the scooter used in the crime.
However, no police help came thereon, said Sharma, daughter of a Bathinda-based reporter with a vernacular newspaper.
Toiling hard to trace the scooter owner, based on the vehicle’s registration number, she reached his address, only to learn that the family had moved to another location.
On Thursday, she finally hunted down the snatcher’s new address, where after an argument in his parents’ presence, the teenager admitted to snatching her phone.
In the four days since the snatching, the accused had mortgaged the phone to someone. But his father brought it back after paying ₹2,000, she said.
“I managed to get all details of the snatcher and my device in less than 24 hours, but instead of acting swiftly, police personnel kept dragging their feet. They did not even register a case,” she alleged.
Canal SHO Bagh Param Paras Singh Chahal confirmed no FIR was lodged as the matter was being investigated.
He claimed, “We provided full support and the stolen phone was under electronic surveillance. But our team could not find the suspect’s new residential address. The suspect will be summoned for further questioning,” he said.
