[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

The legit way of gettign back recovered stolen goods is throguh court. You have to hire a lawyer, file a petition in court and get an order from the court to return the goods to you. If the case is not over, you may be asked to furnish a written assurance ("bond" in legal parlance) that you will furnish the things in court. So, no use furnishing a bond for currency notes - the numbers will be noted and you will have to produce the same currency notes).

I think the "deal" is for bypassing the court. Try bargaining, saying that everything is not recovered. Of course, the police have tesed the things, that is why they want the moolah.

[CaAT]

Hey Jassi,

Just read the entire post. I feel sorry for all that you have been through.

The good part is that your story looks like its gonna have an happy ending. Atleast I would hope so.

As for reclaiming the lost equipment, don't get into the moral Vs immoral debate of it. If you feel that they are still in great condition, you don't have an option but to grease the cops' hands.

Be practical. This is India. (Please don't flame me for this, anyone. I am only stating the ground realities. It is one thing to talk about 'changing the system and blah' sitting in the comforts of your drawing room/office, but going thru the torrid experience is something else). Going to lawyers will only complicate the matters. Strike a reasonable deal with the cops and I am sure you will even get your lost dollars back.

[jassi]

i dont think they have been tested cos there are no wires.

To test the PS3 they will need the power cord and the proprietary tv connector cord or maybe an hdmi cable and a television!!
To test the now completely discharged archos video player which is not sold in india, they will need the proprietary power cord, which the thieves left with me
Same applies for the philips dvd player and the solo speaker.
Anyways I would want to be sure the stuffs going to work, if I am shelling out like 10k for it (don't even know if 10k is too high a amount though)
And I am not sure why they asked me what the cost is of the recovered stuff, when the costs, serial nos. etc are clearly mentioned in the extra sheet i provided in addition to the original report. They seemed amazed that the onkyo speakers were 60k, maybe they will recover them and wont tell me and then try and sell it themselves

I am not sure where to get a lawyer from now and start the court stuff. I mean I dont want to goto the court and all and everything and then find out the recovered stuff is screwed up anyways!! I guess I will wait for their call and get to the deal part of things - tell them I will pay only if the stuff works, else they can keep it.

[kaushik_s]

I think if you really really want to pay(bribe) them and get the goods back then don't just directly pay 10k.Bargain with the buggers and you can get a deal of around 1.5-2k if you know how to bargain.
Don't just directly pay 10k, no way.

[khanak]

Dont tell them that you arent going to be paying the 10k until you see that they have found all your stuff.

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

The legit way of gettign back recovered stolen goods is throguh court. You have to hire a lawyer, file a petition in court and get an order from the court to return the goods to you. If the case is not over, you may be asked to furnish a written assurance ("bond" in legal parlance) that you will furnish the things in court. So, no use furnishing a bond for currency notes - the numbers will be noted and you will have to produce the same currency notes).

I think the "deal" is for bypassing the court. Try bargaining, saying that everything is not recovered. Of course, the police have tesed the things, that is why they want the moolah.

Aaah this makes sense.

Im sure you can get a lawyer to do all your dirty work and I dont think you will really need to break your head over the whole issue. However Im sure the lawyer's fees wont be too cheap. Paying the bribe will ensure that you get your stuff ASAP. Your stuff is worth more than 10k and you can easily get around 16k for your ps3 itself.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

As I posted earlier, I think the cops may by pass the courts to return your lost and found goods. I think the idea is to retreive as much as possible from the loot, return it to you, and leave the original case as "untreacable" and close it. Yes, expenses are involved in recovering stolen goods - but a lot of it is funded by slush funds like this. My experience with the cops (the kind of guys who deal with theives - not just the traffic ones) is making me suspect that a good portion of the bribes they collect is managed as a slush fund to "help" in crime detection. (Not entirely legit). Eg:- buy drinks for an informer; buy off a guy whose human rights are violated, etc.

[jassi]

Update - i have recovered my stuff a few a weeks back
Out of the 1.5 lacs odd worth of gadgets stolen i got following back
1) 4 out of 6 onkyo speakers - wood slightly chipped but they work
2) philips dvd player - not working, looks like it was being used for rental or something
3) sony ps3 60gb , i have 2 now!!
4) archos portable video player
5) 2 watches
total worth would be around 80k

I paid ZERO to the police!! Took me a month+ to catch up with the SHO Guruwamy and inspector Shivanna of mahadevpura police station. Finally got the stuff and asked Shivanna if I could gift him something. He said nothing, I said ok I will get chocos for his kids (which i got from my last US trip). He said that'll be great and requested for some foreign perfume I have an unopened davidoff box, will give that too to him along with the chocos. Really happy with how nice these cops have been. Lets see when I am able to catch up with them to give the gifts.

cheers,
j

[speedzak]

Hey!
That's a good end to the whole incident. Nice to know that you got some things back. Eventhough it may not be as it was earlier, still recovering something lost is always great.
You didn't pay anything to cops. That's really amazing.

[rohan_fonseca]

Happy for you Jassi. Must feel good.

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by jassi

Update - i have recovered my stuff a few a weeks back

Wow thats amazing!!!!

How did they manage to find it - was the theft some sort of "inside job" (ie the pool of suspects being people from / around your building) if i may ask?

Or did they catch a theif who had been operating a lot in your area?

cya
R

[jassi]

Thanks speedzak, rohan and rehaan

rehaan - it was a gang of 4-5 ppl operating a lot in that area - primarily stealing car stereos/speakers almost daily and on a less regular frequency robbing houses in cv raman nagar. All of them (except 1 who fled) are in jail and the hearing is within next 5-6 months. I may have to reproduce all the recovered stuff in court as evidence or some of the cops said a photo will also do.

To add to it, what made things easier for the police team who found these guys was the fact that i gave them multiple color printouts of a word doc i made which had description, serial numbers and pics of each and every gadget. I had gone down to stating the fact that which devices were stolen without power cords or remote controls. All these pics (taken from sony, etc websites) in the doc with all the unique points (missing remotes, and power cords, serial numbers) made it easy for the cops to catch these jokers in national market They were a "direct match" in words of the police and also the other stolen car systems, etc were recovered. Infact they were able to force the thieves to trace the stuff which was sold to other vendors!!

Advise to others is - take the pain to get as much info, pics from websites, etc in concise color printouts to the cops, they may not always know what a ps3/xbox is, but they sure have a keen eye to catch a thief if they have the pics, etc

cheers,
j

[kb100]

WOW! This is great news! Glad you got most of your stuff back!

[HappyWheels]

Great news, Jassi!

And the icing was that you did not have to pay anything. At least there are some good cops around!

And hope that you have made your house more secure now.

[diabloo]

Wonder why these 2 tricks didn't work

Originally Posted by jassi

• I have an inkling that day to leave all lights on in my house during the period I am away, as this will keep people fooled on the fact that there is someone inside the house or not.
• Also cleverly leave my archos portable video player (which I use in car) plugged in and playing music in a continuous loop to further fool any potential thieves.

The locks held on or nobody tried to break-in thru' the front door.

Final check if the backdoor is secured and then lock the front door (2 locks) and slide close the grill and lock it with another 2 locks (those expensive godrej locks).

A Chain Is as Strong as Its Weakest Link

Suspect the worst and quickly run behind the house, to see the loophole, my exposed bathroom window, which has multiple metal rods, 2 of which have been cut open.

[ECM]

Few tips though I have not gone threw whole thread
*Use collapsable grill just next to your main door and back door.
*Never inform these people if you are going out of station:-
Your daily servants,Dudhwala,Newspaper deliveryman etc..
*Never lock your front door OR gate in case of bunglow where the lock is visible from outside.Better lock front door from inside and comeout from the backside.