Juvenile, brother traced after their mother posted a photo on the Facebook profile of the phone’s owner

A 14-year-old and his brother were allegedly apprehended by the Delhi police for stealing a smartphone after the phone’s owner noticed that her facebook account was being accessed by a third party following the theft.

On March 27, around 8.15 p.m., the mobile phone of Priyanka Arora was snatched by two boys while she was waiting for a bus at east Delhi’s Krishna Nagar to go to her residence in Bhola Nath Nagar.

According to the police, the apprehended minors revealed that they had given the stolen phone to their mother, who used the phone’s social networking features, including Facebook and WhatsApp. The mother, who was allegedly fully aware that it was a stolen phone, was arrested by the police on Tuesday.

Unfamiliar picture

Earlier this week, the complainant, Ms. Arora, saw an unfamiliar picture uploaded from her Facebook account. After checking the personal settings on her page, she found that her account was being used by another number. Suspecting that this number might belong to the snatchers, she immediately informed the police.

“The complainant’s Facebook account was already logged in and the accused did not log out before uploading the picture. The mobile number used in uploading the photographs was kept on surveillance and the location of the user was identified,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) Nupur Prasad.

Phone recovered

She added that the family were residents of Bhikam Singh’s colony and the mother was a household maid. The complainant purportedly told the police that she ran after the boys after they snatched her phone but couldn’t register her complaint on the same day and went on the next Sunday instead.

“Upon investigation of the JCL (Juvenile in Conflict with Law), it was revealed that the said phone was used by his mother. The snatched phone was recovered from the possession of their mother and she was arrested,” said the DCP. Ms. Prasad said, “In case someone’s phone is lost and they have their social media accounts open, they must change their account password and not just logout to avoid misuse.”