Mumbai: Lea Westad, a 21-year-old student of journalism from Norway, has an interesting tale to tell her friends back home. Had it not been for the police and an auto driver, who turned out be a good Samaritan, her purpose of visiting India would have remained unfulfilled.
Ms. Westad arrived in Mumbai earlier this month to work on her thesis. On November 17, she hired an autorickshaw from Saki Naka metro station to S.J. Studio in Chandivali.
She had two bags with her, and she took one of them while getting off the vehicle, forgetting to pick up the other which contained her camera and other valuables. All the pictures that she had taken for her thesis were in the camera.
On the advice of some friends in India, Ms. Westad approached the Saki Naka police. But the challenge before the police was that she had to board a flight to Norway the next day.
“We inquired at the metro station and through some informants, identified the autorickshaw which she had hired. We obtained the registration details and contacted the owner, who had rented it out to someone. We traced the person, and he said he shared the auto with another driver and they drove in shifts,” said senior police inspector Avinash Dharmadhikari, Saki Naka police station.
When the police finally contacted the driver who had ferried Ms. Westad, he told the police that he had the bag with him and was wondering who to approach about it.
“The driver brought the bag to the police station, and we returned it to Ms. Westad three hours before her flight. She was exhilarated and told us that she would be mentioning this in her thesis,” said Mr. Dharmadhikari.
