Boy leads cops to mobile theft racket

A drive against eve-teasing by the Pune police led to the busting of a cellphone theft racket targeting the Ganesh festival crowd.

Assistant police inspector Geeta Bhagawade from Faraskhana police station was looking out for eve-teasers around the Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati pandal when she spotted a 12-year-old boy stealing a mobile phone from a passer-by. She followed him and found he was partnering with a 30-year-old man who took the mobile from him and vanished in the crowd.The incident took place on Monday at 9 pm.

Bhagawade followed the boy and nabbed him. She then came to know the identity and whereabouts of his partner Ravi Nagappa Kundachary.

The police arrested Ravi and interrogated him. What unfolded was a great cellphone theft racket that was to unleash during the Ganesh festival when people throng in huge numbers.
Bhagawade, who was accompanied by police naik Kisan Wadekar, was shocked by the involvement of the 12-year-old boy. She said, “After we detained the boy and Ravi, we learnt that Ravi and three other persons from Hubli in Karnataka had hired this boy being well aware that he is a juvenile. They knew the police will have less scope to arrest him.

“The boy used to get a commission of Rs1,000 for each theft. The boy was given decorated plastic flowers to sell, while observing where people placed their mobile phones. They usually targeted people who keep their mobile handsets in jeans as it’s easy to steal them. The boy used to enter the crowds and steal a mobile phone. He would later raise his hand carrying the flowers and wave indicating to Ravi to come and collect the mobile handset from him. If he raised a hand without flowers, it indicated danger.”

The racket members are from Karnataka and had come to the city to steal mobile phones as there is a huge crowd on the occasion of Ganeshotsav. They were residing at a lodge in Budhwar Peth. After Ravi was arrested, the other three gang members escaped. The boy admitted that he had stolen a number of handsets in the past. They used to sell the handsets in Karnataka after collecting a huge number.

“We can get easily stolen mobile phone data information in Maharashtra, but it is time- consuming and very difficult to get such information from other states,” she said.

Ravi was first remanded in police custody and later in judicial custody by a court, while the boy was produced before the juvenile justice board and was sent to an observation home.