Mumbai: Battery chor on the prowl in Mahim

A month after Mahim police quarters was rocked by a series of housebreaking incidents it has come to light that an unidentified thief has stolen 30 to 40 car batteries from an area just 100 metres away from the spot Residents told midday that they approached the police on several occasions but no first information report was registered and the matter was not investigatedThe modus operandi of the unidentified battery thief involves using a tool to open car doors and then the bonnet to steal batteries Residents claimed they had caught the accused redhanded twice but before they could hand him over to the cops the accused managed to escapeThe residents eventually approached Mahim police with a written application demanding the arrest of the thief Most of the vehicles with stolen batteries were parked on roads in the Mahim West area just stonersquos throw from the Mahim police station According to residents the incidents occurred over the past two months Many residents are now locking their car batteries with chains after parking their vehiclesVictim 1J P Dias 50yearold IT professionalldquoI reside at Silver Green Society near Baba Falooda shop in Mahim West I park my car outside my society daily On Wednesday I parked my car after returning from office The next morning when I was heading to work my car wouldnrsquot start I called a mechanic and he found that the battery was missing The thief had even locked the doors after stealing the batteryrdquoVictim 2Mushtaq Ansari Activist and resident of Mahim WestHe caught the accused on Friday morning while he was stealing a car battery but the latter managed to escape before he could be handed over to the police Ansari who is in the secondhand car business has had 12 car batteries stolen so far He said ldquoI approached the Mahim police station multiple times but they didnrsquot register a case saying it is just a batteryrdquoVictim 3Dattatray B Babar64yearold retired MTNL employee residing at MMC Cross RoadTwo days ago an unidentified person stole the battery from his Innova Babar said ldquoI park my car outside my society daily After the Ganpati visarjan when I went to start my car in the morning it wouldnrsquot respond I called a mechanic and we found that the car battery was missing All the car doors were open I had to purchase a new battery which cost me Rs 6000rdquoVictim 4Sanjay Janardhan Marathe 49yearold resident of Sahu Nagar and owner of garage in Mahim WestldquoA few days ago I parked a taxi on the road because a few cars were in our garage for servicing In the evening when I tried to start the taxi I found the battery missing I had to buy a battery worth R4000rdquo he saidVictim 5Rahat Ali Sayyed a 40yearold taxi driver residing at Kamgar Chawl in MahimHe also lost his car battery a few days ago Sayyed told midday ldquoI parked my car outside my society and in the morning when I tried to start it I couldnrsquot When I opened the bonnet I found the battery missing I approached the cops but they didnrsquot register my caserdquoVictim 6Rahmat Shaikha 40yearold resident of MahimHe told midday ldquoI buy and sell secondhand cars and three days ago my car battery was stolen I had parked my car outside Canossa High School The thief had opened the car door Now I have to buy a new battery which will cost me at least Rs 4000rdquoVictim 7Noorul Hasan runs a garage in MahimHe told midday ldquoA few days ago I parked a car in the morning after receiving it from a customer for servicing Just two to three hours later when I tried to start the vehicle nothing happened When I checked I found out that the battery was missingrdquo