Ranchi: The ongoing Rashtriya Khadi Evam Saras Mahotsav in Morabadi has become a happy hunting ground for pickpockets who are especially targeting smartphones.

With complaints of pickpockets cropping up almost every day since the fair started on December 22, Lalpur police held a meeting on Xmas Monday - when the fair crowd count had touched a whopping 70,000-plus by 4pm - to chalk out a strategy to curb it.

"Since the khadi fair started on December 22, we got at least six complaints of mobilephones stolen by pickpockets from the mela venue. We are now planning to depute police personnel in plainclothes on fair grounds till January 7," a Lalpur policeman said.

With Lalpur OC Ramod Kumar Singh on leave, sub-inspector Sohan Lal confirmed the gravity of the situation.

"Pickpockets on the mela ground are a challenge. We caught two in the last two days but again on Monday we got another complaint of a smartphone picked from a visitor, which means they are fearless and active," the sub-inspector said.

A police source added that most victims don't report pickpockets if their wallets are gone but as smartphones have to be deactivated they come to thanas.

But pickpockets are active in Ranchi. Recently, on December 19, two pickpockets were caught red-handed by a crowd when they were attempting to steal from a hawker boarding a city bus at Kantatoli. They were beaten till traffic cops rescued them and handed them over to the police, recounted a hawker at Kanta Toli Chowk, an eyewitness.

Kotwali OC S.N. Mandal said on December 18 they caught a pickpocket red-handed from Albert Ekka Chowk during the BJP's rally after Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly poll wins. No one turned up to register any FIR.

Last month, a policeman from Jaduguda in East Singhbhum, Pradip Vishwakarma, who came to Ranchi for court-related work, got his pocket picked while boarding a bus.

How can crowded venues be kept safe from pickpockets? Tell ttkhand@abpmail.com