A senior police officer in Keralam has been booked for allegedly stealing a mobile phone and selling it for ₹ 1,500. The accused has been identified as Y Biju, a 41-year-old officer attached to Kasaragod’s Chandera police station.
Police investigate theft
Biju was on guard duty at the time. Police tracked down the owner of the phone and discovered that it belonged to one Subadra, a homemaker. When Subadra’s son went to the police station a week later, the phone could not be found. With the help of the cyber wing, police traced the phone using its International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number. CCTV footage helped solidify the case against him.
On October 8, a migrant worker found a phone lying on the road and handed it over to the police, according to a report in The Hindu. He allegedly took the phone from the drawer where it was kept in the police station and, a few days later, sold it to a resident of his village for ₹ 1,500. (Also read: SI steals ₹ 20K from truck driver in Hamirpur, arrested, suspended ) A receipt of the phone was recorded in the guard duty register. The check revealed that a new SIM card had been inserted into the device on October 14. (Also read: 4 police personnel arrested for stealing gold and cash from Bangladeshi national ) After checking the duty roster, Chandera police realised that Biju had been on guard duty when the phone went missing. The footage showed Biju taking the phone from the drawer on the night of October 12 and breaking the SIM card into small pieces.
