Which police station's jurisdiction is it anyway?

Jaynath Chaubey

A 62-year-old has had a tough time trying to lodge an FIR, after he was robbed of his gold chain worth Rs 60,000 by two people impersonating CID officers. Instead of lodging an FIR, he said, the Ghatkopar police and the Vinoba Bhave police at Kurla West, both claim the crime did not take place in their jurisdiction.

Jaynath Chaubey claimed he was turned away thrice by both police stations. He said, "Both police stations' personnel told me the area isn't in their jurisdiction." According to Chaubey, on December 12 around 2:30 pm, he was walking near the Phoenix mall on LBS Road, when somebody from behind approached him impersonating a CID officer and said, "CID ke sahab bula rahe hai."

When Chaubey ignored him and moved ahead, another person, also claiming to be a CID officer, approached him and using foul language, insisted that Chaubey remove his gold chain as thieves were around. He then took the 2.5 tola chain worth R60,000, kept it in a paper and put it in Chaubey's bag. Later Chaubey realised it was missing.

The senior citizen and his son went to the Vinova Bhave Nagar police station to lodge a complaint and two constables from the police station visited the crime spot. They later told Chaubey that the area falls under Ghatkopar police. When Chaubey went to the Ghatkopar police station, constables from there went to the spot and told him that the area falls under Vinova Bhave Nagar police.

"I tweeted to Mumbai police about the issue and the control room told me that the Ghatkopar police is going to register an FIR. After some time I got a call from a senior officer of Ghatkopar police and they agreed to register an FIR. But they registered the case only for namesake and told me to visit Vinova Bhave next morning. They are now transferring the case to VB Nagar again as the area falls under their jurisdiction." said a frustrated Sanjay, Chaubey's son.

"The spot falls under Ghatkopar police's jurisdiction. They have lodged an FIR and are investigating the case," said Rajesh Pawar, senior PI Vinoba Bhave Nagar police. "The area is under Vinoba Bhave police's jurisdiction. We will send the file to them. The FIR is lodged with us," said PI Madan Patil of Ghatkopar police station.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates