Conmen are now pinching mobile phones from cars

Conmen and gangsters seem to have taken over the city. The latest crime seems to be pinching mobile phones from cars. Gang members target high-end cars near busy traffic junctions; one approaches from left, the other from right, and before you know it your cell is gone










Kumar Shailendra


Businessman Kumar Shailendra (42), a resident of HMT Layout in RT Nagar, was on his way home last week when he encountered the robbers.

He was at the signal, coming out of Lavelle Road, near Cubbon Park, when he heard a knock on his car window.

Shailendra told BM: “It was around 5.45 pm. The signal had turned green and I was slowly moving forward when I saw a man knocking on the window. He was knocking continuously and I thought I may have accidently brushed against his bike or run over his foot. I rolled down the left window to enquire, but just then another man started hitting hard on the window on my side of the car.”

Shailendra said he tried to stop the car to check if something was wrong. But the man on his right asked him, in Kannada, to get moving. “Since the signal had turned green, other motorists were honking continuously, and the man on the right side also insisted that I leave as nothing had happened. I drove through the Coffee Board junction and reached Cunningham Road when I looked for my phone to make a call. That’s when I realised my phone had been stolen,” he said.

Shailendra said he took a U-turn and went straight to the Cubbon Park police station to file a complaint. The police sub-inspector, however, said he would file an FIR only after he gets the details, such as the IMEI number, of the phone.

He was then asked to visit the Traffic Management Centre (TMC), along with a policeman, to check if the robbers had been captured by any of the CCTV cameras.

“At the TMC, the policeman asked me to stay put while he went to the upper storeys of the building to check. He returned after 15-20 minutes and said the miscreants were not captured on CCTV.”

Shailendra said he went back to the police station, and only after much back and forth was an FIR (theft and cheating) was filed by 10 pm. “I am not worried about my mobile phone. It may have already been sold in the black market. But this happened at one of the major junctions of the city and they dared to rob my phone in front of the Cubbon Park police station and the DCP office,” said Shailendra.

The businessman is also upset by the lack of cooperation from the police.

“The PSI wants me to bring two witnesses. From among the hundreds of vehicles that passed us, how can I bring two people who’ll testify,” he asked, adding that he plans to escalate the issue if nothing is done.

Shailendra’s iPhone 6 was worth more than Rs 36,000.



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Ajaykumar Sharma



Ajay Kumar Sharma (58), a retired naval commodore, lost his brand new Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro (worth Rs 40,000) opposite Swami Vivekananda Metro Station near Indiranagar.

With Sharma, a resident of Jal Vayu Towers near NGEF Layout, the incident happened on February 26 around noon on a busy road.

“I was driving home from Golf Course. Around noon on Old Madras Road, two men, one on each side, came near my car. The one to my left asked me to roll down the window, claiming I had hit his bike. While I explained to him that I hadn’t, the other one on my right started banging on the door vigorously, demanding that I park my car on the left and come out. Just as I was making my way to park the car, the person came again and said that it was all right and asked me to go ahead as it was not my fault. Then I went home without suspecting any foul play,” Sharma told BM.

He realised his phone was missing when he reached home and started to pick his stuff up from the car. He had left the mobile on seat next to him.

“Both the two men diverted my attention and when I was talking to the person on my right, his associate took the phone. Luckily, my wallet was kept inside the glove compartment. I have lost important data, contact details and a few important photographs,” he said.

Sharma – who lodged a written complaint with the Baiyappanahalli police station through the ‘e-lost Report’ – said, at the police station, he found a few women with similar complaints.

“Some had lost their handbags. The accused divert the attention of the victims if they are alone in the car. Either they claim their bike has been hit, or that the car’s got a flat tyre or that there’s an oil leak. When the victim gets out of the car to check, they grab the valuables and run. We suspect that an organised gang is targeting high-end cars,” said a police officer.