HYDERABAD: A mobile phone of Cheedella Sravanthi, a techie residing at Madhapur, was stolen from the hostel where she was residing, in April 2023. Similarly, the mobile phone of Dontaraboina Vinod, a fisherman from Shamirpet, was misplaced on May 2, when he, along with his brother and uncle, were fishing in the lake. As it is their regular practice, he kept his mobile in his clothes, left them on the bank and entered the lake, but when he returned he found his mobile phone was missing. Thanks to the Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR), a new application to trace lost and stolen mobiles, Sravanthi’s mobile phone was traced in less than an hour of reporting it to the police and Vinod’s was traced in a week’s time. Since the launch of CEIR in the state on April 20, Telangana state police have traced over 1,000 such mobiles and handed them over to their owners.
Vinod told Deccan Chronicle that he expected to get back his mobile phone, but not so soon. Same is the case with Sravanthi who said that she was very upset after losing mobile phone and was very happy to get it back immediately.
Cyberabad police commissioner M. Stephen Raveendra said that they have sensitised all SHOs on the application and as a result, not only FIRs are registered but they are aggressively pursued through CEIR. “As it is still new, we are spreading awareness about it through social media platforms and also during community engagement programmes,” he added.
Cyberabad police have traced 149 mobiles, among which 123 mobiles were traced by Madhapur PS using CEIR application. ADG CID Mahesh Bhagwat said that staff from all 780 PSs in the state have been trained on the use of this application and effective monitoring of the complaints on a daily basis resulted in tracing and handing over more than 1,000 lost and stolen mobile phones to their rightful owners, he said.
