New Delhi, Nov. 1 -- Thousands of people attending the opposition's 'Maharally' at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi became victims to pickpockets and mobile phone thefts. Several people complained of loss of mobile phones and one of their gold chain was stolen at the rally.
While a tight security was put in place at the rally venue and nearby areas, with police and paramilitary force deployed in large number. Roads to the venue were blocked with barricades and metal detectors installed. But the large crowd from Delhi-NCR and several other states made the situation conducive for pickpockets.
Dozens of people reportedly approached Kamla Market police station by afternoon complaining about their mobile phone getting stolen.
Many of them hailed from out of town.
"My mobile was stolen while I was attending the event," said Ajay Singh Bhandari from Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand. "My phone was stolen while I was walking along with (Congress leader) Rahul Gandhi's car," said Adarsh Khatik from Morena, Madhya Pradesh.
"The crowded environment led to me losing my mobile phone. If they had issued some announcement to make people aware of the pickpocketing then it would have kept everyone alert," said Lalit Gurjar from Ghaziabad.
Radhika Deshmukh from Maharashtra, Tariq from Meerut, and Rohan from Assam also faced similar situations. While Nagesh from Karnataka said his gold chain was snatched which cost him lakhs of rupees.
This has raised questions over the security at the rally. Thousands of police and paramilitary have been deployed but seems like they have mainly focused on controlling crowd and pickpockets and mobile phone thieves managed to cause trouble.
While some have managed to catch the suspected pickpocket and handed him over to the police, Delhi Police have not yet given any information regarding the total number of mobile phones or valuables that have been stolen.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.