KOLKATA: From yellow taxis to a Royal Enfield motorbike and a Toto electric vehicle to multiple mobile phones, Bidhannagar City Police has enhanced the lost/stolen articles return drive to rightful owners following all legal protocols.
A Saturday evening exercise that was first initiated by Kolkata Police to return some 200 odd lost/stolen cellphones every week some four years ago has expanded its periphery further in Bidhannagar by returning larger stolen goods than just mobile phones.
When Ripan Mistry received a call from Bidhannagar Police last week, asking him to collect his stolen Royal Enfield motorbike, he couldn’t believe his ears. He knew that cops had recovered his stolen bike and had arrested the thieves but he was pleasantly surprised to learn it would be returned to him at such a short notice. “My friends had told me it would take years to get the bike and I used to wonder if it would at all be in rideable condition by that time. My bike was stolen on July 8 and within four days, cops had arrested the thieves. I was returned my bike keys last Saturday by Lake Town police station officers and on Wednesday, I got relevant papers from a Salt Lake court,” said Mistry, a Dum Dum resident.
Similar was the experience of Nagerbazar resident Bimal Pal (65), who was beaten up and left gagged by two “passengers” who looted him and stole his electric vehicle on July 11. “My father is still in trauma. But the cops were extremely efficient in not only arresting the criminals but also recovering our vehicle. More so, they returned the vehicle to us within a week,” said Pal’s son Subhadeep.
Taxi driver Md Sagir didn’t even had to wait for a week to get his taxi back after it was snatched by three men on a desolate stretch of Bangur Avenue on May this year. “Three men had boarded my taxi from NRS hospital. When we reached Bangur Avenue, one of them said he had to take a leak and asked me to stop the car. When one of them got down, another person strangulated me from behind as the other punched me. They took all my money and the car,” said Sagir (67), a Park Circus resident. Cops tracked down the offenders on the very night of the crime and recovered his car, which was returned to him in two days.
A senior officer of Bidhannagar Commissionerate said they had decided to return the stolen goods in quick time to reduce people’s hassle during the pandemic. “Some goods are being returned after checking valid credentials and following nod from the senior officials of the commissionerate while in other cases, we are extending all sorts of help to ensure the victims get back the stolen articles maintaining all relevant legal protocol,” said an officer.
