[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

I am not so sure about this; every damn place in the country wants to check your boot while entering a parking lot! Once the boot lid covers your IVRM, you are a sitting duck!

No it depends on your route and destination I guess. The boot is checked when you are entering a Hotel, Mall or a MNC building perhaps. In everyday small businesses, like mine, my dad doesn't need to go to any of such places. Its more of visiting a colleague, going into some industrial area, visiting a bank etc and the real risk is theft from the car while parked. Ofcourse if you are going to encounter a situation where your boot will be checked then you have to stay alert or probably get down and get it done.

[ghodlur]

@Bluevot,

Really saddened to know the incident, I hope you recover the cash and the documents at the earliest. By any chance were the notes marked, noted the serial nos. I guess some lessons are learnt the hard way, hope you will ensure that in future to avoid carrying cash as much as possible. IMO the thieves who robbed must have known about the cash stuff and followed the car with a clear motive. Also couldnt understand as to why the wallet was in the briefcase, the safest place would have been on the self body. Storing ATM/CC/DC pins in the wallet - another big mistake. Hope you get the new chip mounted CC if you plan in near future.

I know giving suggestions would be far more easy but really unable to put myself in your shoes. In such situations I would have gone bonkers.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

No it depends on your route and destination I guess. The boot is checked when you are entering a Hotel, Mall or a MNC building perhaps. In everyday small businesses, like mine, my dad doesn't need to go to any of such places. Its more of visiting a colleague, going into some industrial area, visiting a bank etc and the real risk is theft from the car while parked. Ofcourse if you are going to encounter a situation where your boot will be checked then you have to stay alert or probably get down and get it done.

how about installing a dud chinese camera look alike that has a blinking red LED - fat chance the thief would have time to figure it out!

he'd move on to the next "bakra"!

[Samba]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

Just after 5-10 minutes, the thieves also withdrawn cash - Rs. 7500 (the max limit of dad's credit card limit for the day) in two three instalments from two ATMs (Rs 5000 from one ATM near mukarba chowk and Rs 2500 from Wazirpur ATM).

Am really sorry to hear about the loss. But one thing i must say in these days these anti-socials even injure the victim to snatch his belongings. Your dad is really lucky as nothing happened to him. For his safety i would request you to at-least appoint a driver who can accompany him. As they know your dad's route and your car number with your house address, so why take risk?

The point i want to add is as they have withdrawn money from the A.T.M, you can get the details of time and location of the A.T.M from your bank. Now a days every A.T.M has web cams. So if you ask police to trace the culprits from the web cam footage of the A.T.M that might be handy for you to catch the goons.

Regarding the documents dont worry as your dad has already done the F.I.R for the case and lost documents the F.I.R receipt is the most important document to reapply for your lost documents/identity proofs.

About the tyre i will say its better to change it rather than putting a extra tube in it. Why take a chance with safety?

Indian supreme court ordered to stripe off the sun-films from our cars. So does it really helping? Instead the goons now a days get a clear view of whats inside the car and they can easily make the soft targets.

[sansvk]

Times have changed, no place is what it used to be 20 years back let alone 5 years. Briefcases are always associated with money and documents. Laptop bags for laptops of course. So better to change the bags that you have been traditionally using. Keep valuables in the passengers foot-well or underneath the passengers seat (some cars do utilise that space).

[bluevolt]

Originally Posted by mints21

Dear bluevolt,

Duplicate RC can also be managed and is not a tough task. Only thing you will have to do is a little running around.

Please expect no help from police in tracing these documents. At the very best they will give you an NCR ( Non Cognisable Report) mentioning the items that have been lost. This document will serve you as a copy of FIR. T

However, I find it strange to understand how come they get to know your ATM cards PIN. I think it is a situation where you had kept all eggs in the same basket.

I got the FIR from the police station this afternoon. Done its few photocopies as well because it will be required in documents reissue process.

To be honest I personally don't use and prefer credit card. I myself have a debit card only with the pin stored at some other place. Dad got this card as an offer from the bank when we bought our car.

Originally Posted by mukeshgoel

That's really sad.

I know it can happen with anyone no matter how many precautions one takes but it is always good to keep everything in boot. Most of the time my boot is filled with stuff like a garbage bin (more stuff than boot capacity) but the seats are 100% empty. Any visible thing is an invitation to such people.

About duplicate RC and DL, I am sending you a PM with details of an agent of Janapuri RTO who lives in Rohini. You can get in touch with him if you are willing to spend some extra money, it will save you botheration, he will do it at his own, will pick up documents from your home also. I got couple of things done from him.

Totally agree. It's solely our mistake + bad luck combination which resulted in this theft else my dad was commuting like this only for the past 13 years!

I hope someone gets the documents and approach us.

Thanks for the agent's number. We will be contacting him tomorrow regarding this.

Originally Posted by lapsi

Sorry to hear that you became a victim of organized crime. A few points which may help:

1. Your documents could come back by post. Wait for a few days before starting procedures to get duplicate ones.

2. In all probability, the cops know who has committed this crime. If you can get someone senior to apply pressure on the cops, things should move quickly.

3. Tweet to your Chief Minister. Who knows, he may be able to come up with a solution.

Take care.

We personally have contacted the SHO & area ACP, both gave assurance that they will try their best to retrieve cash and documents back. The first course of action will be to ask the banks to preserve the cctv footage of their respective ATMs from where the cash was withdrawn. Also since I don't have the credit card number with me anymore and I don't have a bank account with axis bank they are not telling me more details about this like exact ATM address etc. I will ask them to mail me the card's statement so that I could exactly know the address of the ATM.

I don't think my city's chief minister will do another round of dharna for my case. :P

Originally Posted by rajeev k

Someone would have known that your dad was carrying money in the briefcase.
It is always better to keep valuables below the seats while on the move, so that they do not grab attention at signals and make it a point to not leave the valuables inside when.you leave the car especially on roads and parking lots. Mind you, thieves and rogues are always on the prowl.

Actually the money was taken from home to deposit in the bank but since he was occupied with his official work for the whole day, he could not visit the bank and had to return home for some other work. As far as we know, no one was having info about the money.

It was big mistake from our part to keep the briefcase on display on crowded delhi roads and even bigger to leave the car alone with the briefcase to call the puncture guy.

Originally Posted by drmohitg

This is the precise reason why my father always keeps everything in the boot of the car. Atleast its not visible from outside. What happened with you is really unfortunate but very common on our roads. How did the thieves manage to take out cash from your ATM without the password?

I agree. It is much safer to carry your stuff in the boot. But I personally avoid that also because someone could see one keeping the bag/briefcase in the boot and could follow him/her on the way. I usually keep my laptop bag under the front seat so that no one can see even if I am away from the car for some work like getting some articles from the grocery shop. I also use car shades on all windows to avoid prying eyes but as they say yesterday was just not our day.

Originally Posted by joybhowmik

Very sorry to hear of this. I hope you get the important documents back.

Yes I know there are chances of getting documents back because in the past my mother lost a bag containing some documents in a bus and after a week someone called us that he found our bag lying near a bus stand. That bag did not had a single rupee. That might have a helping point.

Originally Posted by ajmat

Another thing is to put your case in the boot immediately before you set off and not when you park where someoone can spot you putting it in the boot.

Exactly

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

One of my relatives also had a similar incident near Janakpuri District center. In her case, the thieves had shattered the rear windscreen to get to the bags! Her car didn't have a parcel tray.

In a similar incident last year, My friend's Santro's rear windshield was broken to steal JBL GTO speakers in Dwarka outside an apartment!

Originally Posted by saket77

I don't know how helpful will that be, but it is clear that the guys who burgled knew that your dad was carrying cash, or carries cash regularly in his briefcase. You can jot down the list of people who can possibly know about this and it may prove to be helpful.
BTW, how did they managed to take out cash from the ATM without the PIN?

As far as we know, no one had info about the money because he carried it from home to deposit in the bank but could not do so because of some urgent work at both home and office.

AFAIK it was the credit card and it did not require pin to make payments at least at petrol pumps and malls. We never withdrew cash using credit card so no idea if PIN is required for credit card at ATMs or it is simply swipe and go just like in petrol pumps.

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Sorry to hear about the incident. But there are quite a few learnings for future.

1. Never keep documents / case where people can see it. Rather, stack it in the boot or keep it on the floor in front of the navigator seat.

2. You can forget the documents - if the thieves bother, they might courier you those, but chances are slim.

3. I am NOT sure of the procedures for acquiring new docs, but you could check with the concerned departments.

4. NEVER keep the PIN in the wallet / mobile phones. If you need it for sure, please save / write it in a format which can NOT be understood by a second person.

5. The ATMs most probably would have caught the culprits in action and might give you / police some leads - ALL THE BEST!

6. As for them knowing the house address - if you can afford, hire a young private security guard for the next couple of months please.

I inquired about the procedure for issuing duplicate documents. Procedure appears to be simple - requiring the FIR copy and couple of id/address proofs. But that will require some running around.

Its very difficult to spot a puncture shop on the busy outer ring road. My dad could not spot him so he had do walk back for 50-60 meters to call the puncture guy. I even told dad that our car is protected by Honda assure program and he could have simply called Honda helpline and get the job done without stepping out of the car! We will take care in future.

I also shared this concern with the SHO & ACP of my area and they told me that such thieves can eye one's house only in the case if someone is a very rich by referring passbook details or having house in a posh locality - which is neither the case with us. Still We will be extra cautious with locking & securing our house from now on.

Originally Posted by fine69

This approach is ok only for emergencies or if you are going to use the car for short trips nearby. If its a daily driver then a strict no no!

First start off with the insurance company, I think with an FIR you can easily get the duplicate insurance papers. In case you have insurance from one of the 4 semi-govt companies that we have, please PM me, may be I can help.

License also doesn't need much except for an application and visit to the DL issuing authority once. I have a duplicate DL myself and the only difference would be that it'd have a 'D' printed on the top right side.

The procedure for a duplicate RC is below
Source - http://delhigovt.nic.in/newdelhi/dep...sport/tr10.asp

How? I don't think those lowlifes would be interested in helping you in any way. Robbing you of a lakh and then taking pity on you to return the documents, that'd be a first to me if at all it happens.

This is exactly what Mr. AK is fighting for. There's no accountability on their part and unless you know some higher-ups, I don't think they'd do much. I mean its not the first theft of its kind in their area.


Glass breaking wouldn't damage the Power Window mechanism unless excessive force caused something to break or bend in the door also. Your friendly neighbourhood garage can check for damage in 5 mins.


A lot of folks have your address, address isn't really a problem. In my opinion these crooks wouldn't even want to come nearby your residence. Unless of course, some of the documents reveal that you guys carry a lot of cash in transit or stock unrealistic money at home and they might want to get lucky a second time as well. May be change the route that you take for a while or stop keeping money in the car for a few weeks or whatever time you'd be comfortable with.

However, I highly doubt they hitting you again because there are umpteen other fellows who'd fall for their tried and tested methods.

I have a copy of insurance policy with me. I may contact Ring Road Honda to resend me a duplicate insurance policy on mail. I got renewal from them only.

I got the glass replaced and power window mechanism is al-right.

We will be a bit more careful about the security of our house from now. My dad is a government officer and there were some official files and documents also. Bank accounts includes a salary account with couple of lakhs and two saving account having amount less than a lakh each. My dad will also submit an application to banks to cancel all previously issued cheque books tomorrow. As of now all bank accounts are safe.

Originally Posted by PGNarain

I would also suggest that you take help of agents in this case as most of them have had experience in re-issue of documents in case of thefts and are well aware of all the formalities.


If the thieves have indeed used an ATM, you can obtain footage of the respective ATMs and try to ascertain identity. However, this too is in the ambit of the Police as no bank will give you the in ATM footage. I am sorry to sound pessimistic but if this too works out, by the time any headway is made all your docs will have gone or been destroyed!

Best of Luck!!

I will contact some agent tomorrow and see how he can help us regarding duplicate license and RC.

Police will forward request to the concerned bank to preserve the cctv footage of the concerned ATMs from where transaction was made.

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Sorry to hear about this BV!

It is downright disgusting, but again, reality.

Here are a couple of things:

1) The cash was withdrawn from the "stolen" credit card. Once you have the FIR, contact the credit card issuing bank and inform them of the theft. Most credit cards have a Zero Liability Clause so there's a good chance you will be protected.

** Credit cards do have PINs that you need to enter to withdraw cash.

2) For all the stolen documents: DL and RC, I would suggest that you get a membership with the AAI. They would get everything done for you. Of course, this is Delhi and there are tons of agents who get things done so you could do that.



I am not so sure about this; every damn place in the country wants to check your boot while entering a parking lot! Once the boot lid covers your IVRM, you are a sitting duck!

Thanks for the pointer regrading the zero liability factor. My dad do not have a bank account with Axis bank which issued us the credit card when we took the car loan. May be they will entertain us. Let us contact axis bank regarding this tomorrow.

No idea about AAI membership. Can you please throw some more light on this.

Originally Posted by drmohitg

. Ofcourse if you are going to encounter a situation where your boot will be checked then you have to stay alert or probably get down and get it done.

Boot is definitely safer for carrying important documents/cash. But I have this concern that some one may notice while putting the bag/cases etc in the boot and the someone may follow the car.

Originally Posted by ghodlur

@Bluevot,

Also couldnt understand as to why the wallet was in the briefcase, the safest place would have been on the self body. Storing ATM/CC/DC pins in the wallet - another big mistake. Hope you get the new chip mounted CC if you plan in near future.

I know giving suggestions would be far more easy but really unable to put myself in your shoes. In such situations I would have gone bonkers.

My dad usually keeps all stuff including wallet in the briefcase before starting from the office. I know that mistake was made but it is good lesson for us to avoid such big goof ups in future.

Originally Posted by Samba

Am really sorry to hear about the loss. But one thing i must say in these days these anti-socials even injure the victim to snatch his belongings. Your dad is really lucky as nothing happened to him. For his safety i would request you to at-least appoint a driver who can accompany him. As they know your dad's route and your car number with your house address, so why take risk?

The point i want to add is as they have withdrawn money from the A.T.M, you can get the details of time and location of the A.T.M from your bank. Now a days every A.T.M has web cams. So if you ask police to trace the culprits from the web cam footage of the A.T.M that might be handy for you to catch the goons.

Regarding the documents dont worry as your dad has already done the F.I.R for the case and lost documents the F.I.R receipt is the most important document to reapply for your lost documents/identity proofs.

About the tyre i will say its better to change it rather than putting a extra tube in it. Why take a chance with safety?

Indian supreme court ordered to stripe off the sun-films from our cars. So does it really helping? Instead the goons now a days get a clear view of whats inside the car and they can easily make the soft targets.

+1 to you. Even we are happy & thankful to god that no physical harm happened in this case. The thieves might also had snatched the car if they didn't punctured the vehicle or tried to cause physical harm if my dad could spot them doing the theft from a distance.

My dad will use other car in the house for few days and we will keep City parked for next 10-15 days till a new RC is issued.

I asked the pucnture guy about the tyre but since the two holes created on the sidewall are very small, he advised to use the tyre as spare after putting a new tube and he also sealed those holes using some seal.

You are right regarding the sunfilms. Removal of sunfilms definitely has created lots of problems. Such incidents could be avoided if cars have sun films of specified limits as it was earlier. I will make sure the rear door windows always have the sunshades attached if no one is present at the back.

Originally Posted by sansvk

Times have changed, no place is what it used to be 20 years back let alone 5 years. Briefcases are always associated with money and documents. Laptop bags for laptops of course. So better to change the bags that you have been traditionally using. Keep valuables in the passengers foot-well or underneath the passengers seat (some cars do utilise that space).

I completely agree. I have now purchased a new simple laptop carrying bag for my dad. It can be kept easily underneath the front passenger seats.





The shattered rear window glass now replaced with the new OEM glass.

[bluevolt]

Just to add - this all happened on a crowded road some 200-300 meters away from the red light/u turn. The average speed of vehicles plying on there would not have been more than 20KMs. You just can imagine the courage of thieves that they did all this in daytime and they were not even fearing several cars/bikes passing on the road!

Exact location - outer ring road, near ravidas mandir, shalimar bagh(front of passport office/sector 18 redlight/jail road) where a flyover/metro construction is going on.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

There were cheque books also in the brief case - I hope those are not of much use to them without the signature.

Sorry to hear about the incident.
Not sure if you already had this done - please call the bank(s) and issue stop payment advices for the lost cheques just to make sure they aren't used for any transactions.
You can get duplicates for all other documents but will have to spend some time on the procedures/processes.

I'm sure you've already done this but just want to call it out - for your reference, make a complete list of all things that were lost, will help track and avoid nasty surprises later especially any documents, cards, etc.

[Octane_Power]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

The incident happened with us this evening while my dad was returning to home from office in our Honda City. He ply on this route for the past twenty years and today we experienced this strange theft incident. Here is how all happened.

bluevolt, the solace here is that the thieves didn't harm your dad.
In such incidences more than the money, the documents lost pinch more.
I really hope you get all your documents back much sooner, given the efficiency of our Government departments.

-Bhargav

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

Just to add - this all happened on a crowded road some 200-300 meters away from the red light/u turn. The average speed of vehicles plying on there would not have been more than 20KMs. You just can imagine the courage of thieves that they did all this in daytime and they were not even fearing several cars/bikes passing on the road!

More than courage, it could be the confidence they’ve in our public – that no one will really bother or care to stop and act against the crime.
Only positive here is that they did not harm your dad physically.

[vibbs]

Gosh!! Bluevolt, I don't know what to say. Glad that no physical harm was done to your dad.

Being someone who was born and brought up in Delhi, it pains to see the level it has reached now. I hope our law enforcement wakes up and provides basic security to the people atleast in public places. If these people have the guts to carry out something like this in the busy streets of our capital, I shudder to think how safe are we in our homes.

[ambivalent_98]

Bluevolt this is indeed very unfortunate. It is a bold robbery especially in daylight.

I had heard of this MO of thieves many years ago. Seems with more and more transparency in cars windows thieves can just look in and break in.

When the Fiats and Ambys ruled the road. I have myself seen a couple of instances after the thieves made away with the stereo (a cassette player + radio which was a valuable asset of yesteryear) , and everything in the Fiat by simply slicing the windshield rubber away and honestly keeping that on the side without breaking it.

Later with Marutis and Zens breaking glass was the better option when AutoCop XS was failry expensive and not all cars had them. At that time I remember the morning a Zen was broken into. The owner was telling all that nothing was there in the car not even his stereo which was a detachable one and he had safely removed it. The angered thief had however slashed his really expensive leather seat covers and broken all the glasses just for revenge. I can't imagine the racket it would have made but no one seems to have heard it break in the dead of the night.

[rajwheelz]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

My one more concern is that the documents have our photos and home/office addresses and those thieves have now our addresses also!

Please guide.

In my opinion, it should not be a serious concern. Nevertheless, you should keep the police station ( under whose jurisdiction your residence falls ) informed so that they can keep an eye out.

I diligently & rather strictly ( to the irritation of many people ), enforce the rule that not even a single small plastic bag be left out in the car even if all it contains is a penny's worth of trinkets. The plain reason is, not to tempt the thief. If his luck is hard and he desperately needs cash for drugs/food/whatever, he wouldn't mind bricking your car to get a hand on it.

So, Rule 1: Do not tempt the satan

My brother from Mumbai was on official work to Bangalore & he was taking out my Figo for a few days. A fine evening he was returning from work with his phone paired to the DIN system and playing music. At a traffic red light, a person appears from the left and knocks on the window. My brothers lets the glass down & the person informs that he got a bad scratch on the rear done by a truck. Before my brother recovers from shock, a person appears from the right side and knocks on the window. My brother lets down this side of the glass too and this person repeats the story. By the time my brother is done listening to the guy on the right, the guy on the left coolly pockets the LUMIA 920 and is off before my bro realizes it. In a moment's time before he turns his head right, the guy on the right is gone too.

Rule 2: Do not get diverted by stranger's claims that you have a puncture,or you have a dent. If you have to inspect, ensure you park safely, take out all the valuables with you, lock the car with emergency lights on and then inspect.

Rule 3: If driving alone, never stop at desolate places, unless absolutely necessary

[girimajiananth]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

The incident happened with us this evening while my dad was returning to home from office in our Honda City. He ply on this route for the past twenty years and today we experienced this strange theft incident. Here is how all happened.

My dad's office route is from rohini to civil lines & vice versa. He usually keeps his briefcase on the rear seat along with water bottles. Today while he was returning from the office around 5 PM, some one must have seen his briefcase on the rear seat at some red light at sant nagar or near jahangirpuri.
.

Is it possible that someone could have been observing your movement for a long time ? Any leads from the police so far ?

[nitinbose]

Such incidents are becoming very rampant. The best option is to never pay any attention to this. Instead we should only stop the car at a safe location, preferably a police station or known shops.

We should also keep our windows rolled up and all the doors locked at all times. I have seen several people drive with their windows rolled down, lucrative to thieves!