A businessman heaved a sigh of relief on Monday morning when his missing brown Renault Duster was spotted by a listener of an FM channel after his story of his car being stolen four times was flashed on Radio City.
On Monday morning, listeners of Suno Na Dilli heard the story of Deepak Pandoi, resident of Lajpat Nagar, who had lost his car for the fourth time and was hoping to get it back as he had got back his three cars earlier. His Renault Duster was stolen from outside a gym in Lajpat Nagar on 31 January.
Pandoi told The Statesman: “I went to the gym as usual and a well-dressed person followed me in. I put my car keys in a box at the reception. When after an hour I came back I found my car was not there. I asked everyone but no one had a clue.”
When Pandoi checked the CCTV footage of the gym he was stunned to see that the person who entered the gym with him picked up his keys from the box and later stole his car. “There were no details of that person in the gym as he came to enquire about the membership programme for the first time. I lodged an FIR at the Lajpat Nagar police station. I gave all the information to the investigating officer and he promised me the case will be solved soon and they will recover my car,” said Pandoi.
“But today I got to know shockingly that my car is being used in Delhi,” added Pandoi. A senior police officer said that; “The investigation is going and they are examining the CCTV footage of all across Delhi to spot the vehicle.”
Requesting anonymity, the person who spotted the vehicle told The Statesman; “I was driving to my office and as usual I play Radio City. It was just a coincidence that I heard Deepak’s story and after half an hour I spotted the same vehicle bearing the same vehicle number at Majnu Ke Tila. I immediately posted it on Twitter and informed Radio City.”
Radio jockey Ginnie, who hosts the show Suno Na Dilli, told The Statesman: “It really felt amazing knowing that a radio show can help recover a stolen car which is unusual. We are hoping that Deepak will soon get his car back and I would like to show my gratitude to the person who spotted the car and informed us.”
Deepak’s car was first stolen on 16 December 2014 but barely a week later it was found at an isolated place in Greater Kailash. Four months later, in April Deepak again missed his car which was found after ten days. “The accused had a minor accident due to which he left the car there,” said Deepak.
After almost a year, he discovered that the same car was again missing on 8 February, 2016. “I was about to claim insurance and the day I was hoping to get clearance I got a call from Badarpur police station about recovery of the car,” said Deepak.
On how hopeful he is to get it for the fourth time, Deepak said, “In all the previous occasions I always felt that it’s just a coincidence and never had high hopes but now as I know that my car was spotted in the city I am hoping to have it back.”