The swift action of Navi Mumbai police personnel saved the academic year of a Pune-based youngster, whose bags with passport and visa were stolen just hours before his flight to Europe. Akash Patil, 24, had stopped at Vashi for dinner with relatives when two of his bags were stolen from his car. He hardly had any hopes of flying out that night. However, officers launched an intensive search and found both his bags along with the documents within three hours.

Akash, an engineer, had quit his job at MasterCard and was heading to Ireland to pursue further studies at Trinity College when the incident happened on the evening of August 23.