The Worli police registered a robbery case as soon as the victim standing in front of them, whose phone had been stolen, told them he was an employee of former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, in order to not attract Chavan’s displeasure.

On Friday, Vikas Pansare 24 returned to the city from Panhala, a town in Kolhapur district. Pansare works with the Chavans and was to join them at their house opposite INS Trata, in Worli. “He got down at Dadar, took a bus for Worli and reached Worli Naka. From there, he took a cab to reach INS Trata on Golfa Devi Temple Road. When he alighted from the taxi in the night and was paying the driver, the driver pushed him and fled with his cell phone,” said an officer from Worli police station. The stolen device is worth R8,500, according to the officer.

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After the theft, Pansare approached the Worli police and told them that he worked with the Chavan family and that his cell phone had been stolen. In no time, and in completely uncharacteristic fashion in such cases, a First Investigation Report FIR was registered and Pansare was asked to describe the accused.

“We have started checking the CCTV footage of the whole area to get an idea of what the taxi driver looks like. The detection staff of the Worli police is searching for the accused, along with the Crime Branch,” said a police inspector with the Worli police station.

Police have also put the IMEI number, a code unique to every mobile device, on tracing mode. As soon as someone uses the SIM card in the phone, cops will get a notification about his location.

“We usually don’t give importance to mobile phone thefts because there is a lot of work in the police station. But, this being the case of the ex-CM’s servant, we have registered the case and started the search. We don’t want Chavansaheb to get upset,” said the police officer.

Two teams from Worli police and one team from local Crime Branch have been given the job of locating the cell phone and nabbing the accused.