Thief chased at Exide crossing, girl’s phone recovered

A woman, whose mobile phone was lifted from her jeans pocket while she was trying to board a bus from Exide crossing in southcentral Kolkata, got it back after a traffic sergeant and civic volunteer chased the suspect down. 

The incident happened around 11am on Wednesday almost at the same place where a civic volunteer had allegedly assaulted a man accused of stealing a phone and pinned him down on the road putting his leg on the man’s throat last Sunday. 

Police said Sakshi Shroff, who was boarding a bus on route number 230, had started shouting that her mobile phone had been stolen. “I started chasing the man. Seeing me, a traffic sergeant also started running after me, trying to catch the thief,” Shroff told The Telegraph.

Senior officers said traffic sergeant Amal Prasad lost track of the man as he took a left turn and ran towards Lord Sinha Road.

Prasad alerted civic volunteer Mrinal Harijan over phone who was posted at the Lord Sinha Road and AJC Bose Road crossing.

“Harijan intercepted the man and handed him over to Shakespeare Sarani police station,” the officer said.

Shroff said she got back her phone from the police station.