The Navi Mumbai Police in Maharashtra has successfully traced, recovered and returned 122 lost mobile phones worth Rs 25 lakh to their rightful owners, officials said on Friday.

The entire operation was conducted by the Navi Mumbai Police Commissionerate’s Crime Branch, Unit 3 in Panvel. 

According to the police, citizens across Navi Mumbai often report lost or stolen phones at various police stations while commuting, shopping, or working. Since mobile phones contain personal contacts, photos, videos, and messages, their loss often causes emotional distress.

The government has activated the CEIR (Central Equipment Identity Register) portal to help trace missing devices.

Acting on directions from Police Commissioner Milind Bharambe, Joint Commissioner of Police Sanjay Yenpure, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Deepak Sakore, and DCP (Crime) Sachin Gunjal, the Crime Branch launched a special drive, an official said.

Senior Police Inspector Avinash Kaldate formed a dedicated team, which carried out parallel searches using CEIR data. Constable Indrajit Kanu conducted the technical analysis, contacted SIM card holders, and tracked down mobile phones from across Maharashtra and other states over the past three months.

On Wednesday, the recovered mobile phones were formally handed over to their owners by ACP (Crime Branch) Ajaykumar Landge. Citizens expressed satisfaction with the police initiative.

The achievement was made possible by the Crime Branch Unit 3 team, led by Inspector Kaldate, along with officers Sachin Mane, Ambaysingh Jade, Madhav Indole, Avinash Patil, Ramesh Shid, Prashant Katkar, Pramod Rajput, Nilesh Patil, Deepak Sonare, Sagar Rasalkar, Indrajit Kanu, Rupesh Patil, Ajit Patil, Hirkanu Patil, Ajinath Kude, Vinayak Patil, Lavkush Chougade, Vikrant Naidu, and Prasad Kharat.

Source