Mumbai: Constable uses social media to find man who lost wallet

Punit Dave with the cops at Navghar police station

A 32-year-old constable used social media to locate the owner of a wallet found at Mulund Railway station. Constable Nitesh Ghode, attached to Navghar Police station, had found a wallet with Rs 8,200 in cash and some identity cards near Mulund Railway station on Wednesday night. After not finding any contact number mentioned on the cards, Ghode decided to use Facebook to try and locate the man.

On Thursday, Punit Dave, a resident of Breach Candy arrived at Navghar police station not only to claim his wallet but to thank the entire police station with a box of chocolates.

Ghode was on patrolling duty near Mulund railway station, East, when he saw a black wallet lying on the ground. When he checked with nearby shops and hawkers, no one knew whom it belonged to.

"I then checked the wallet and found Rs 8,200 in cash, a driving licence, railway pass, PAN card and debit cards. There was an address on the licence mentioning Breach Candy but it wasn't exact and the name on it was Punit Dave," Ghode said. On Wednesday night, Ghode logged in to Facebook and checked users with the name Punit Dave.

"There were five similar users on FB and I explored each and every profile and found one with a picture similar to that on the ID cards. I sent the person a friend request with the message mentioning that I had found his wallet. I also sent the message to a couple of his friends on his list," Ghode said.

Constable Nitesh Ghode

On Thursday morning, Ghode found that one person had accepted his request and given a phone number. Ghode them called the person and asked for Punit's number, which the friend readily gave.

"As soon as I got Punit's number, I called him up and told him that I had found his wallet. He thanked me profusely and told me that he would come to the police station at night," Ghode said.

On Thursday, Punit arrived at the police station with chocolates that he handed over to Senior Inspector Madhav More and Ghode.
"I am so happy to get my wallet back with all the money and cards intact. I am grateful to and proud of the Mumbai police," Punit said.

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