The Pickpockets of Jaynagar

Hari stood at the bus stop waiting for his regular bus 60A. He took this bus every day from Vijayanagar to reach his college in Jayanagar 4^th block. The colleges had just resumed last week after the summer vacations. As such there was a huge rush of college students during the morning peak hours. The buses were mostly overcrowded and people were dangling from the foot boards. Hari did not like to commute in such a dangerous manner. So, he preferred to wait for the bus which at least had enough space to stand comfortably.

It was the month of May and mercury levels had soared up to 37 degrees Celsius. In the morning, the only relief came in the form of the cool breeze which makes the city of Bangalore so famous. Hari had been waiting about ten minutes chatting with his college buddies who had joined him at the bus stop. They were talking about the Bahubali movie which had been released that week. “What amazing graphics! You have to watch it, dude,” Hari was telling his friends. Just then, their bus arrived and they all boarded it hurriedly. They all got some seats at the rear side. The Bus stood at the stop for a couple of minutes and soon it got crowded. It finally moved from the bus stop.

The bus conductor was moving around asking people to purchase tickets or show their bus passes. Hari and his friends were regular bus commuters and all of them had bus passes. As the bus stopped at subsequent bus stops it got more crowded and people were standing in a congested manner. But, since everyone was used to the morning rush nobody made any fuss about it and cooperated with each other. After about one hour’s journey, Hari’s destination arrived. As he was getting down, some people in a hurry pushed him and he almost lost his balance. He turned around to see a short, stout man with small mustaches dressed in a white formal shirt. Hari was upset and gave a stern stare to the man. The man did not even bother to say Sorry and instead feigned complete ignorance. “Useless fellow,” Hari said in a low tone and got down from the bus.

His friends joined him and they started walking to their college which was half a kilometer away from the bus stop. They stopped at the juice stall which was on the way to their college. Hari put his hands in his jeans pocket to take out his wallet. His face revealed a strange confusion as his hand fumbled but failed to find his wallet. Hari was now feeling very uneasy as he realized that someone had picked his pocket. He told this to his friends. His friends empathized with him. One of them told that last week one of their other classmates had also been pick-pocketed while traveling along the same bus route. Hari guessed that maybe the guy who had pushed might have pick-pocketed him. One of his friends paid the money for his juice. Hari was upset that he had lost his college id, bus pass, and around five hundred rupees. He decided to file a police complaint.

That evening, he went to the police station with his dad and filed a police complaint. His Dad knew one of the sub inspectors in the station. The sub inspector Mr. Khan told them that a notorious pickpocket gang was on the prowl in the city. Several incidents of pick-pocketing had been reported in the last two months. Police had nabbed around ten pickpockets but still, the new incidents continued to be reported. It seemed that there was a big gang operating in the area. Mr. Khan said an undercover police team had been investigating the incidents and he would inform them if his wallet was found. Hari and his dad thanked Mr. Khan and left the police station.

Hari and his Dad returned to their home and had dinner. Hari was still upset and he was thinking of a plan to nab these culprits. He kept thinking about this for the whole night and finally devised a plan.

Next day, he called his friends and explained his plan to them. They all agreed and made the necessary preparations. Hari and his friends traveled from the same route every day and after about a week Hari received a call from one of his friends Subhash. Subhash told him that someone had pickpocketed his wallet when he got down at the Jayanagar bus stop that morning. This time instead of feeling anxious a smile crossed his face as he listened to his friend and asked him to wait for him at the Juice stall.

This was the call that he had been waiting for since the last one week. His plan was in motion now. Hari’s father worked in a telecom company and had shown him how to build micro GPS chips. Hari had built few micro GPS chips and placed it in the wallets of each of his friends. They could track the location of the wallet using an App that one of his friends had built for him.

Hari borrowed a motorbike from one of his friends and picked up Subhash from the Juice stall. Hari and Subhash now followed the pickpocket on their motorbike. They spotted the Pickpocket from a distance and took his photograph. The Pickpocket was sitting in a tea shop and talking to someone on the phone. The Pickpocket was soon joined by few other men and after some time they left the shop in an SUV. Hari and Subhash followed the SUV while maintaining a safe distance and they wore helmets to protect their identities. Hari was transmitting all the information to his other friends back in the college so they could alert the Police in case something went wrong. The SUV stopped outside a big house in a remote locality and the men entered the house. Hari noted down the address of the house and returned to his college.

That evening, Hari and his friends went to the Police station and explained everything to Mr. Khan who was amazed by their courage and presence of mind. That night, Police raided the house pointed out by Hari and they could nab most of the gang members including their kingpin. A lot of valuables were recovered from the house and were taken into Police custody. Next day, the Police Commissioner called Hari and his friends and personally thanked them for their brave act, and announced a cash reward of ten thousand rupees for them. When Hari’s father heard of his son’s courageous act, he hugged him and said that he was so proud of him. As for Hari, he was happy that now everyone could travel safely without any fear of the Pickpockets.

The End