Mobile snatchings fail to ring alarm bells

If the police records are to be believed, Delhiites lost as many as 10, 000 cellphones in 2010. However, what they fail to mention in these records is that more than 75% of these phones were either snatched or pickpocketed.

If the police records are to be believed, Delhiites lost as many as 10, 000 cellphones in 2010. However, what they fail to mention in these records is that more than 75% of these phones were either snatched or pickpocketed.

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Mobile phones are the hottest commodity to grab for snatchers in the city after necklaces, bags and laptops. But according to Delhi Police, in most of these cases there are no recoveries and filing an FIR turns into a futile exercise.

Last year again witnessed a rise in the number of snatching cases. Most of the cases of mobile thefts and snatching however went unreported as no cases were registered.

In 2010 as many as 10, 493 mobile phones were reported missing, a figure that stood at 6, 458 in 2009.

Sample this: From the 429 criminals arrested last year, the police managed to recover 85 countrymade pistols, two grenades, 53 cars, seven laptops and six computers among other things. However, not a single cellphone was recovered in these cases even as 6,372 cellphones were reportedly stolen or snatched. All these cases were later changed to simple missing reports.

According to Delhi Police, in most cases people either misplaced or lost their cell phones.

“People tend to lose their mobile phones. Sometimes they claim that they were stolen but when we question them further they contradict themselves and finally realise that they left their cellphones somewhere and lost them,” said a senior police officer on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

In most cases complainants are given a non-cognisable report (NCR), instead of an FIR.

“My Nokia N8 cellphone was recently stolen while I was travelling in a DTC bus. When I went to report the matter to police, they said it would be anyway impossible to recover my phone and filing an FIR is full of hassles. They just gave me an NCR so that I could get back my phone number from my service provider,” said Manish Singh, a resident of Rohini.

But in 2011, the police have decided to change the way they handle mobile theft cases following instructions from the new police chief BK Gupta.