A senior banker lost an iPhone worth Rs78,000 to the ‘thakthak’ gang. This is the second reported case of the gang in action, in the last two months.

The case of the senior banker took place on April 23. Shyam Maheshwaran Unnithan, 37, a vice president at Deutsche Bank, was driving to his Powai home from his Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) office at 9pm, when two men targeted him at a signal in Kurla.

A few seconds after Unnithan stopped his car at the red light, a man knocked on the window of the passenger seat and pointed to the front tyre, the police said.

“Unnithan rolled down the glass and was trying to make out what the man was saying, but by then, another man knocked on his window, claiming the car had hit him,” said a police officer close to the investigation. “By the time Unnithan responded to the second man, the first had left. Soon, the second individual also walked away,” the officer said.

Unnithan immediately realised something was amiss. “I was on a call with my wife and the phone was connected to the car’s bluetooth system. When the call got disconnected, I realised the men had walked away with my phone,” Unnithan said.

Unnithan had bought the latest model of the phone from Dubai in November 2018. He filed a complaint against two unidentified people, who the police have booked under sections 420 (cheating) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

“We are checking if CCTV cameras in the area caught the men and their movements,” said another police officer. “InvestigaWorli. tors are also checking police records to match it with the description the complainant has given of the accused,” the officer said.

Earlier, Vinita Kamte, the wife of 26/11 martyr Ashok Kamte, filed a complaint after her bag, containing valuables worth Rs 1.16 lakh, was stolen by the gang in Members of the gang usually knock on car doors and distract the drivers and passengers with conversations while they lift valuables from the car. The method is quickly becoming one of the most common kind of street crimes being reported, police officials said.

First Published: May 02, 2019 14:29 IST