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MUMBAI: A 77-year-old fountain pen worth Rs5,000 and rupee one lakh was stolen from the bag of a company director that he had put into check-in baggage while flying from Mangalore to Mumbai on Wednesday. The theft was observed when Binod Kumar Mandal (46) landed at the Mumbai Domestic Airport and noticed the bag’s number lock with a chain was broken and the valuables were missing.Airport police have sought closed-circuit television (CCTV) grab from the airport and the Indigo airline to find out the person behind the theft.
Mandal, who was on a two-day official trip to Mumbai, has kept the cash if required to use it during an emergency. “The fountain pen was a gift given by my grandfather who had got it in 1946. I hail from Kolkata but have been working in Mangalore with Manipal Tech Group Companies. I had kept the cash in the bag so that people would not be able to steal as there is a chance of pickpocketing or snatching the purse when you enter into a new city,” Mandal told TOI, who will be flying back on Friday.
Mandal said such thefts are on rampant rise and very few people approach the cops and the airliner with complaints as these authorities test the patience of the people who are already in shock and question them instead of solving their problems. “In my case, I had the proof of money that I had withdrawn from the bank which I had carried. Despite having all the proof, I waited for almost five hours in Mumbai after landing to lodge a police complaint,” he said.
This has been the first time, Mandal has come across such an incident of theft from his baggage after frequently flying for official trips across the country. “It is a hand-in-glove by people inside the airport otherwise the theft will not happen. I suspect that the person who does the baggage scanning would have tipped off the loader who would have stolen cash from the place where there is no CCTV coverage,” he said.
Airport police have registered a case under the Indian Penal Code section 379 (theft) against an unknown person. “The airport police are probing the case. It is too early to tell from where and how the cash and other valuables could have been stolen,” said DCP (Zone VIII) Dikshit Gedam.
Mandal, who was on a two-day official trip to Mumbai, has kept the cash if required to use it during an emergency. “The fountain pen was a gift given by my grandfather who had got it in 1946. I hail from Kolkata but have been working in Mangalore with Manipal Tech Group Companies. I had kept the cash in the bag so that people would not be able to steal as there is a chance of pickpocketing or snatching the purse when you enter into a new city,” Mandal told TOI, who will be flying back on Friday.
Mandal said such thefts are on rampant rise and very few people approach the cops and the airliner with complaints as these authorities test the patience of the people who are already in shock and question them instead of solving their problems. “In my case, I had the proof of money that I had withdrawn from the bank which I had carried. Despite having all the proof, I waited for almost five hours in Mumbai after landing to lodge a police complaint,” he said.
This has been the first time, Mandal has come across such an incident of theft from his baggage after frequently flying for official trips across the country. “It is a hand-in-glove by people inside the airport otherwise the theft will not happen. I suspect that the person who does the baggage scanning would have tipped off the loader who would have stolen cash from the place where there is no CCTV coverage,” he said.
Airport police have registered a case under the Indian Penal Code section 379 (theft) against an unknown person. “The airport police are probing the case. It is too early to tell from where and how the cash and other valuables could have been stolen,” said DCP (Zone VIII) Dikshit Gedam.
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