CHENNAI: A motivated 23-year-old man tracked down his stolen mobile phone and nabbed the thief without the help of the police within a week.
S Simiyon, a resident of Perambur, bought an iPhone worth `28,000 on an instalment basis four months ago. On June 13, he went to an Airtel showroom in Purasawalkam to purchase a SIM card. He had placed his phone on the glass table and forgotten to take it while leaving the showroom.
“A few seconds later, I returned to the store only to find my mobile phone missing,” Simiyon told Express. Simiyon lodged a complaint with the Kilpauk police, who, he said, registered a case only after he pestered them for two days.
Realising that the police would not help him, Simiyon decided to find his phone himself. With the help of CCTV footage at the Airtel showroom, Simiyon and his friend Jaffar identified the thief.
Luckily, the ‘thief’ had visited the showroom to port his SIM card and the showroom staff had taken down his number. However, he wasn’t answering when called. Still, using the number, Jaffar and Simiyon found that the suspect had a Facebook profile in the name of Pankaj Sharma from Bihar.
“We texted him on Facebook Messenger but he did not reply. We posed as people from Chennai offering jobs for people from north India,” said Jaffar. Pankaj Sharma, however, did not reply even then.
So, on Tuesday, Jaffar and Simiyon contacted one of Sharma’s friends and got his number. The duo used one of their Bihari friends to contact Sharma and lure him with a job offer.
“Pankaj said he was workiwg at a plywood shop. On Wednesday morning, we were waiting at the spot and when he came around 8.30 am, we nabbed him,” said Jaffar.
Sharma reportedly handed over the mobile phone to Jaffar and his employer took him to the Kilpauk police station. The Kilpauk police arrested Sharma.