India, Aug. 19 -- As the 'Chinchpokli cha Chintamani', a crowd favourite Ganesh idol, made its way to Chinchpokli on Sunday, around 64 devotees in the procession lost their phones and five lost their gold chains. A 200,000 strong crowd had gathered for the 2-km procession where the idol is taken from Parel, where it is crafted, to a pandal in Chinchpokli.

With two deputy commissioners of the police (DCPs) and 600 police officers deployed to accompany and manage the arrival of the idol, the police said that they had done an "elaborate bandobast (preparation)" for the function.

Despite several police officers dressed in plain clothes, 64 people lost their phones in the crowd, a considerable reduction from the 271 people who had lost their...