The woman claimed that she received no update from the police regarding her phone
A woman has shared CCTV footage of a pickpocket stealing her iPhone 13 in a crowded street in Varanasi. The woman who goes by the name Sarah on X, narrated the entire incident and her ”traumatic” experience in a thread and claimed that the Uttar Pradesh Police did not act even after the pickpocket was identified.
As per her tweet, the incident happned on January 29 when she was visiting Varanasi for a pilgrimage trip with her parents. As seen in the CCTV footage, a man wearing a black sweatshirt, pulled her four-month-old iPhone 13 and walked away. She only realised that her phone was missing after a couple of minutes and immediately filed an FIR at the nearest police station.
Watch the video here:
It happened on 29 Jan 2024 at around 1:27pm. I had visited Varanasi for a pilgrimage trip with my parents. We were having street food when some guy (black nike sweatshirt) pulled it out of my pocket.
I realized it was missing 3 mints later & all of us were in a state of panic. pic.twitter.com/OeAbgeCViT
— Sarah (@shehjarr_) February 5, 2024
In another tweet, she also shared a picture of the FIR. ”We were told to write ‘phone gum gaya hai’ instead of ‘chori hogya hai’ so that it’s not a case police has to work on,” she alleged.
She further contacted the shopkeeper on the street who provided her a copy of the CCTV. ”Thankfully we got the proof of it. We shared it with police and they IDENTIFIED him as ‘Vijay’-someone who’s a known thief in area and has gone to the jail multiple times,” she wrote.
After realizing there is a CCTV, we contacted the shopkeeper and asked him to help us see it. Thankfully we got the proof of it.
We shared it with police and they IDENTIFIED him as ‘Vijay’-someone who’s a known thief in area and has gone to the jail multiple times.
— Sarah (@shehjarr_) February 5, 2024
However, despite identifying the thief, the woman claimed that she received no update from the police regarding him or her phone. Meanwhile, Find My iPhone detected her phone’s location in Jharkhand.
Describing her ordeal, she wrote, ”A pilgrimage trip to Varanasi & Kashi Vishwanath temple turned into a traumatic criminal experience for me and my family. Such people near the temple arena demean the sanctity of the place and make it unsafe for tourists who want to visit for spiritual purposes.”
She added that she doesn’t expect to find the phone, but the ”emotional and financial damage” the incident caused will take days to recover from. ”Had to write this thread as a proof of experience of a tourist in the Spiritual City of India and with the police of Varanasi,” Sarah added.