SURAT: True to his name, 30-year-old head constable Hira Malakiya is a shining star of Surat city police.

Using his special tracking methods and communication skills, Malakiya has single handedly recovered 101 lost mobile phones and returned them to their original owners in last 14 months.

Mobile thefts are usually not on the priority of crime detection list, but Malakiya does his work so diligently that he has earned the respect of people too. Police registers an FIR if a phone is stolen, but they lodged a ‘missing’ report if a phone is misplaced by the user. These complaints are handled by Malakiya.

Working in Umra police station, Malakiya has mostly used his convincing power to persuade people using lost or stolen mobiles to return them to the original owners. After identifying the IMEI number of the lost phone, Malakiya keeps track till it gets activated using a new sim card. In most cases, those who find or steal the phones, switch it off and remove its sim card. The phone is either sold in the second-hand goods market or given to some relative for use.

“If the phone gets activated I track its use. I recover the contact number of those with whom the user talks often. I then call those known persons and inform them that the phone from which they received call is a lost phone,” said Malakiya.

In most cases where the user of stolen or lost phone is not a thief, the cop assures them that no legal action would be taken. He doesn’t even mind walking that extra mile to arrange a meeting between the actual owner and the person who has been tracked using their phones.

“Sometimes, intimidation is also required if I sniff that the user is a thief,” he added.

He has recovered phones from Delhi, Odisha and Maharashtra as well. “If a phone is being used in the city I contact the user directly and convince them to return it. On coming to know about the reality, they come to return it or I go to their place to get it back,” he added.

Satish Sharma, city police commissioner, is top on the list of his admirers. “Malakiya has developed specialization in recovering lost phones. He has found highest number of phones single handedly in past few years,” Sharma said.

Recently a senior citizen woman from Athwalines lost her phone while she was out for some work. She approached Umra police station and submitted an application with a limited hope of getting back her phone worth Rs 15,000. But to her surprise, Malakiya traced the mobile in Amroli area and gave it to her.

Similarly, Malakiya was challenged by a 25-year-old IT professional who said police would never be able to find his phone. Two months ago, he came to report the loss of the phone. He told police that he had lost the phone somewhere, but came to report to avoid legal issues later. Malakiya assured him that it would recovered.

“I recovered phone of this IT professional within four days from a person in city. At time of submitting application, the man told me that he had lost a phone 10 years ago too and it was never found. This time too he had no hope,” said the cop.

