As General Secretary BSNLEU, I was on continuous tour to the circles, one after another in preparation for the first Membership Verification in 2002, as also other office-bearers. Tour of East U.P. Circle from 2nd to 5th July in a Tata Sumo. Covered 12 SSAs including Sultanpur, Rae-Bareli, Allahabad, Pratapghar, Joanpur, Azamgarh, Mau, Deora, Gorakhpur, Bashi, Gonda and Lucknow within four days, along with veteran leader Coms.R.S.Yadav, K.D.M.Tripathi, All India Vice-President, O.P.Verma, Circle secretary, K.R.Yadav and others.

The last meeting was at Lucknow and everybody were dead tired. The leaders accompanied me to Lucknow railway station to send me off to Delhi. Since the train was to arrive at 22.00, and all were very tired, I told them to go home and rest. The train Vyshali arrived at about 22.30, half an hour late. Though the platform was long, my compartment was beyond the platform.There was rush and push, and I also managed to climb the steps of the train to get in. The suit case was in my hand and the ruskin bag was hanging from my shoulder. I thought that somebody was trying to snatch my bag and I firmly held the same.

After reaching my berth, I checked my pockets and found that the purse was safe there. But when I looked at the  ruskin bag, it was cut neat, probably by a blade. I checked inside and realized that my  mobile phone has been stolen. It was purchased in 2000, a Motorola with a small antenna, that was one of the best that time. I had put the mobile in the bag before getting in to the train. How the thief knew that the mobile was in the bag?

The train was still in the station. I put the suit case in my berth, asked another passenger to keep a watch and rushed to the platform. I met a police constable and reported the theft. He told me that he is on train duty and that  I have to complain to the police station which is in the first platform since the theft was in the platform itself. The train was in 7th platform and there was no time, no question of going to the first platform. The train would depart by that time.  I got in to the train and it moved.

I went to sleep clutching my suit case and bag. By about 01.00 hours the police constable came, woke me up and told to accompany him to the ‘train police station’. I accompanied him to the next compartment, where three police constables including one SI was there. They asked me about the theft and I told them in detail. Then I was asked to give a written complaint. I went to my berth, tore some sheets from the diary and wrote a complaint and went to the ‘police station’ and gave it. It was in English. They  said that the complaint should be written in Hindi only. Why? Any way I went back to my berth, managed the complaint in Hindi, again went to ‘police station’ and submitted. They prepared an FIR in Hindi, which took a very long time, in between asking me many questions.  It was almost early morning by the time I could return to my berth. Fortunately, my luggage were safe. Reached Delhi by 07.00 hours. As advised by the ‘police station’ I filed a copy of the FIR at Delhi Police Station.

Mobile phone has become indispensable. Bought a new instrument. Since I had the FIR with me, mobile company did not charge for the SIM card. Later I found out that even if there is no chance for recovery of the lost mobile, it is better  to file FIR, since you will not be responsible for any criminal act done through that particular sim by the thief.  Now one could block the instrument as well as the sim if they are lost, making it useless for the thief.