Two Wheeler Vehicle Theft - What to do when it happens (Updated)

On 2nd of April my Bajaj Avenger 220 got stolen. I realized that on the morning of 3rd April. On previous night foolishly I had parked my vehicle outside my building gate. Realizing my mistake, I rushed to the Mico Layout police station outpost. When I said that my vehicle got stolen, none of the cops seemed surprised. They asked me to find out myself by searching for it in every lane in 3km radius. They refused to take complaint. I was told that if I failed to find my vehicle, They will write the complaint the next day. I came home disappointed, borrowed a friend's vehicle and searched for it. I searched for a few hours though I knew that practically it is impossible to find. By then almost everyone around my building knew about the theft. I had tough time dealing with the common questions like

1. Who stole it? (Right! if I only knew)

2. How did it get stolen? (Like I was there to witness)

3. When did it get stolen? (Simple! when I was not watching)

You will have to deal with such questions anyway.

[This was the bike. No... It's not me. I had used my motorcycle in a short film that I have directed]

The members of Bajaj Avenger Club - Bengaluru helped a lot by spreading the word since the biker club's network is strong.

Next morning, I was asked to go to MICO Layout police station. There, the moment I entered I was greeted with harassment. A constable by name Raju even said that purchasing the vehicle itself is a mistake and one should commute by bus. After this bullshitting, Raju noted down my vehicle number somewhere in some random book and said, "You will be called if the vehicle is found." As this happened, another guy with similar complaint came to the police station. His vehicle was stolen and found but was damaged a little to repair which according to the guy would cost Rs. 12000 to 15000. So he expected Raju to give a letter stating that vehicle was stolen and found so that the guy could claim some insurance. Raju yelled at him and asked him to leave and made it seem like it was the guy's mistake that he hadn't filed a complaint. On seeing this, I got determined to file my complaint. but where!? Since the vehicle was registered in my dad's name and my dad was out of Bangalore then, they cited that as reason for not taking the complaint. A constable named Sadashiv pushed me out of station.

[Just in case if you want to know how beautiful the motorcycle was, click on the link above]

With no hope, I wrote to Bangalore city police facebook page. Surprisingly, they responded and guided me to meet Inspector Rajesh. Meanwhile I contacted everyone I knew, who probably would have some link in police department. Luckily, some recommendations from higher officials started pressurizing the inspector. The constables did not know about this and hence they continued behaving like thugs when I wanted to meet the inspector. It was election time and hence they were short of staff at the station. By evening, I was asked to meet an SI who was busy escorting a politician about 3-4 km away from the station. I searched for him. He came to my house and did a spot inspection. After that my complaint was accepted by around night. Next morning by around 10 o clock the FIR copy was given to me. Even then, the constables yelled at me for going to higher officers. A constable openly asked for some money too. During those two days the behavior of constables was absolutely unfriendly. All of them seemed unapproachable. They either wanted some bribe from me or wanted to send me away without taking complaint because FIR would mean things are on records. Obviously they did't want it.

Getting an FIR seemed like an achievement. Immediately I reported the theft to ICICI Lombard. Thankfully I had a first party insurance. For a two years old vehicle the insured amount was Rs. 67500. The surveyor got in touch with me and guided me nicely about the procedure. All the necessary forms were e-mailed to me. Also, I had to submit a few things related to the vehicle. It included the following

NEFT Claim form
Necessary details of the vehicle and the FIR number will be mentioned in this. Account number of the vehicle owner needs to be filled in and a cancelled cheque of the owner needs to be enclosed. This form will require name and signature of two witnesses.

Indemnity Bond
A bond through which the stolen vehicle gets transferred from the owner to the insurance company. This document needs to be stamped (In Bangalore it is for Rs. 200) and notarized. I got it E stamped and notarized from a notary in Jayanagar near cool joint.

Original RC
Without this the claim won't be made.

Both the original keys
If one key is lost, 20% will be reduced from the claim amount.

Address and Identity proof of the vehicle owner
I do not know for what reason.

Form 28, 29 and 30 (will be provided by the surveyor)
These forms have to be filled and signed in triplicate (3 copies of draft should be taken and all of them have to be signed separately)

Purchase Invoice of the vehicle

Insurance copy

2 Passport sized photographs of the vehicle owner

Owner statement and User statement
Needed in case of vehicle owner and vehicle user being different. A simple letter stating that I would do all the transaction on behalf of my dad. This had to be stated by me and my dad in separate letters.

Attested copy of the FIR

Once the above documents are submitted, the surveyor gave me an acknowledgement stating that these documents are submitted. It will be for my reference.

Now it has been 2 months since my motorcycle got stolen. There is no update from police. The claim processing can happen only after I obtain C report or Untracable report from police which can happen only after 90 days from the date of theft. I will update this article after getting C report. Till then, you can watch the film Ditch Please to acknowledge my effort to educate you.

You can write a review of the film here

UPDATE

After completion of 90 days, I went to the police station asking for the C report. The writer and the constables said that it was not ready. From then, I went to the police station on every weekend to check the status. Nothing changed. I wrote to Bangalore City Police facebook page again. After writing to them thrice, they gave me the new inspector's contact number. The inspector asked for about 15 days time. After 15 days my C report was still not ready. I then made it a point to tell the inspector, the constables and the SI in all our conversations that I work for a TV channel. They started taking me seriously. They prepared the file and showed it to me but without the ACP's signature it would not be valid. I asked the inspector if I should go and speak to the ACP directly for which inspector requested me not to. One fine day while returning from office, I called up the inspector to check the status. The inspector casually asked where I was. If I was somewhere nearby he thought he would ask me to come to the station. I told him that I was in Nrupatunga road (That is where commissioner's office is). He asked me for a day's time. Next evening I got a call from a constable from MICO layout police station stating that my document is ready. I went to the station and collected the C report. The motorcycle model and the engine number, both were wrongly printed. I got it corrected from the station writer and got it duly counter signed with police seal. With that, my work in police station was over. There was a sense of accomplishment but even that was short lived.

In mid November, I called up the ICICI lombard call centre to ask for the further procedure. To my surprise, the executive told me that the claim cheque has already been sent to the bank. I checked with the bank but no record of any incoming cheque was found. I registered a complaint with lombard regarding this. I patiently waited for a few days but nothing happened. I called up the call centre again. This time I re activated my previous complaint. I was asked to contact Mr. Thyagarajan, an ICICI lombard employee. I dialled his number several times till 1st week of January. He did not answer any of my calls. Then I left a message to him to which he never replied. I called up the call centre again. I shouted at the top of my voice, threatened to make it into a story for all major news channels and newspapers. They said that they will get back to me in a day.

The next morning Thyagarajan called me. He confirmed that my cheque is with him. I yelled at him loud for his sheer irresponsibility. He apologized and asked me to collect the cheque from his office. I ordered him to deliver the cheque to me right then. He came to my office and handed over the cheque to me. Apparently the delay happened because he had left the cheque on his table and it had fallen off between the drwer and the table. Nobody bothered to clean that gap for 3 long months and the cheque remained there unattended. All is well that ends well I thought but more surprise was there for me in store. The cheque was dated 31.10.2014. I received the cheque on 21st Jan 2015. I had 10 more days in my hand to have the cheque credited since it would become outdated after 31st. I could not go to the bank for next 2 days due to professional commitments. On 23rd my Mom came home. I gave her the cheque and asked her to drop it in the bank. 24th to 26th being a long weekend I was prepared for a delayed credit of the money. I knew that it would for sure get credited before 31st but I was somehow not ready to be very positive about it. No more twists luckily. The money came to the account thus making it a happy ending. Between all this, I did not understand how Lombard issued the cheque without me submitting the C report. The report is still with me.