Lost your phone or became a victim of theft, the chances of getting it back is very rare. Out of the 1,346 lost or stolen phone complaints via online and offline modes received by six police stations in the twin-city last year, only 35 have been tracked and found so far. This startling revelation was exposed in a reply to a query filed before the Mira Road and Bhayandar divisions of the police department under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by social activist-Krishna Gupta.
While Kashimira tops the list with 824 complaints, followed by 106 and 80 received by the Navghar and Bhayandar police stations respectively from 1 January to 31 December 2020. While cops from the Kashimira station tracked four phones, their Navghar and Bhayandar counterparts failed to open their recovery account in the corresponding period.
On the other hand, the Naya Nagar police station received 215 complaints followed by 89 and 32 complaints inked at the Mira Road and Uttan coastal police stations. While the Naya Nagar police tracked, recovered and restored 28 phones to their rightful owners, their Navghar and Uttan counterparts tracked zero and three phones respectively.
“I met senior police officials seeking their intervention in intensifying the tracking process,” said Gupta. The statistics clearly reveals that the overall recovery rate of all the six police stations in both the divisions is pegged at a dismal 2.5 per cent. This despite the fact that most of the complainants provided the 15-digit IMEI (International Mobile Station Equipment Identity) number, which is unique to handsets and can help trace their lost phone. Usually, filing complaints not only increases chances of getting your phone back, but also protects the owners from any potential misuse of the phone.
