Mumbai morning walkers’ cars broken-into, cash, phone, debit cards stolen

Several other residents from Mulund, Ghatkopar, Bhandup, Kanjurmarg, Vikhroli and Powai park their cars on the service road and go for a morning walk while leaving their valuables in the car.

Thieves broke into several cars parked along the Eastern Express Highway (EEH) at Vikhroli in Mumbai and stole valuables including cash and mobile phones on Sunday morning, while owners took a morning walk on the service road, thinking their vehicles parked near a police post were safe. One of the morning walkers ended up losing ₹9.5 lakh, which the thieves withdrew from his bank account in 68 transactions within an hour of stealing his debit and credit cards along with his mobile phone from his car.

Cars parked along the Eastern Express Highway (EEH) at Vikroli in Mumbai were broken into on Sunday morning while their owners were busy taking a morning walk. (Pratik Chorge/HT Photo)

“I had parked my car on the service road near Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road (JVLR) junction at Vikhroli East, near a police chowki [post], which is considered as the safest place [to park],” said Dr Aparna Govind, a Powai resident, whose car was among those broken into.

Several other residents from Mulund, Ghatkopar, Bhandup, Kanjurmarg, Vikhroli and Powai park their cars on the service road and go for a morning walk while leaving their valuables in the car.

“We keep our phones and wallets in cars as it’s impossible to walk or run while carrying them,” said Sudhir Shenoy, a senior corporate executive.

“While we were returning, a walker asked me to rush towards the car and when I reached the spot after a walk to Nahur, I saw many car windows were broken and wallets, clothes and mobile phones had been stolen,” said Govind.

She said she lost her Aadhar, PAN and identity cards apart from a sizable amount of cash. “Luckily, I wasn’t carrying my mobile phone that day,” she said.

But several others weren’t that lucky. Rajesh Aerat, a Bhandup resident, initially thought he had lost his mobile phone, ₹6500 in cash, four credit cards and two debit cards.

“While I was sitting at the police station and trying to block all my cards that were stolen, I learnt that the thieves had changed the PIN code of my debit cards using my cell phone and withdrew ₹9.5 lakh from my bank account,” said Aerat.

The money in his bank account was from a fixed deposit he claimed to have closed recently to pay for his son’s education. Vikhroli police said the accused carried out 68 withdrawals in an hour’s time after the theft to siphon off ₹ 9.5 lakh.