No one enjoys getting into a jam-packed Mumbai local during peak hours. No one but pickpockets, that is. In response to an RTI query, the Government Railway Police (GRP) revealed that mobile thefts have skyrocketed to 3,100 % in the last six years (2013-2018). To put this in perspective, last year, an average of 89 phones were stolen from train commuters each day. Compare this to 2013, when the per day theft rate was just three phones.

Gone forever
In these six years, the GRP registered theft FIRs for a total of 59,904 stolen phones, with an estimated value of around Rs 99.5 crore. Most of this took place in 2017 and 2018, when there was a sharp increase in phone larceny. Until then, the theft figures had still remained in the 2000s, before rising suddenly to 20,764 in 2017, and to 32,476 in 2018.
What's more, as the theft rate rises, the GRP's rate of recovery falls further. In 2013, the cops had managed to recover nearly 68% of stolen phones, which plunged to a mere 7.7% last year.