Telangana has emerged on top of the recovery of lost and stolen phones in India with 5,038 devices being recovered at the rate of 67.98 percent.
The CEIR portal aims to curb mobile theft and the use of counterfeit mobile devices. (Creative Commons)
Indian Telecommunication Services (ITS) officer Anish Kumar Singh was on a short official visit to Hyderabad when he lost his phone in the busy Charminar area.
As a matter of routine, the 32-year-old Singh lodged a complaint with the Telangana police’s Crime Investigation Department (CID) and returned home to Delhi.
“I was in Hyderabad on duty for a month and lost my phone somewhere near Charminar,” the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) employee told South First. The police informed me of the CEIR (Central Equipment Identity Register) and I lodged a complaint on its portal,” the man from Ballia, Uttar Pradesh added.
He had almost zero expectation of ever seeing his phone again.
So Singh was surprised when he received a call from the Hyderabad police in June. The caller informed him that his phone had been located in Mumbai.
“I contacted the Mumbai police and sent my brother, Amrish Singh, who stays there, with all the necessary documents. In three days, they recovered the phone and handed it over to my brother,” he added.
The CEIR portal, launched on 17 May, aims to curb mobile theft and use of counterfeit mobile devices. Developed by DoT, it had a pilot run in Karnataka from September 2022.
Though Karnataka got the CEIR portal first, Telangana has topped the country in recovering lost and stolen phones in just four months.
Phone recovery rate of top 10 states.
As many as 5,038 devices have been recovered — a success rate of 67.98 percent.
Speaking to South First, Superintendent of Police (SP) CID Lavanya Naik PR explained the process of recovering a phone through the CEIR portal.
“The portal gets an alert once the IMEI number is activated in any of the service providers’ network. Once the alert is received, a traceability report is generated, which will include the location of the SIM card,” she said.
However, since the IMEI gets blocked the moment a complaint is registered on the CEIR portal, the new SIM will not function.
“It makes finding the exact location a bit difficult,” Naik said, adding that the service provider’s role becomes crucial in finding the phone.
“The service provider can locate the area where the SIM card, now inserted in the lost/stolen phone, has been registered. Also, the person, who is unable to use that SIM card in the IMEI-blocked phone will use it in some other device, helping us to track down the individual,” the SP said.
The traceability report and the SIM card, which the individual tries to use in the lost or stolen phone, play a pivotal role in recovering the phone.
The CEIR portal is integrated with the Telangana police’s citizen portal so that people can have direct access to it.
“It saves time while complaining. The complainant needs to visit the police station concerned only when he/she has to share the mandatory complaint number carrying details,” Naik said.
How does the CEIR portal operate.
Once the individual is traced, the police approach them and ask for the phone after briefing them on the situation.
“Citizens have responded positively in most cases and returned the mobile devices directly, or through courier services. In case, they deny we take the assistance of local police,” Naik said.
However, there is a final step before the mobile owner gets back the recovered phone.
“The IMEI has to be unblocked. Otherwise, the individual would not be able to use the recovered mobile. So, for unblocking, the citizen has to visit their concerned police station,” he said.
While Telangana stood first in the recovery of lost and stolen mobile phones, Karnataka (54.20 percent) and Andhra Pradesh (50.90 percent) came second and third, respectively.
In early April, the DoT held an orientation programme for police officers and introduced them to the portal,
Orientation programme of Telangana police for the CEIR portal.
“Without that orientation programme, this achievement wouldn’t have been possible. Training was provided by the Technical Department officers across Telangana,” Naik said.
She added that, after the training, one person in each police station was made aware of the portal.
“User IDs were distributed to all units, including police stations. Each police station has an individual ID through which they can access cases in their respective jurisdiction,” she explained.
The DoT also organised a pan-India online training programme for all state nodal officers and police personnel.
Naik added that the CEIR portal is operational in all 780 police stations in Telangana. Additional DGP CID Mahesh M Bhagwat is the nodal officer for the portal in the state.
“Mahesh sir monitors the CEIR portal, and he is the ‘super user’, which means he has a separate account through which he can monitor the entire state,” the SP said.
Of the 5,038 lost or stolen mobile devices recovered in 110 days, the last 1,000 were recovered in just 16 days and returned to their owners.
“In four months, we detected over 5,000 mobile devices in comparison to other states which have been using this portal for over 10 months now,” Naik claimed.
Warangal, Nizamabad, Medak and Kamareddy performed better than other districts in Telangana.
55,219 mobiles recovered through CEIR.
T Kumar, 39, is a Hyderabad police inspector. A resident of Shankarpalli in the Rangareddy district, he also got his lost phone back.
“I did not file a complaint as there was very little hope of finding it,” he told South First. However, after the CEIR portal was launched, he complained.
“My mobile was traced in Andhra Pradesh in May itself. After coordinating with the AP police, I got my phone back in 15 days,” Kumar said.
Ballia DOT officer Singh, who got his phone back, said Telangana police officers were very supportive.
“They are digitally active and responsive too. I even tell my relatives about the CEIR portal and how they can use it. I am now undergoing training in handling the portal.”
Naik noted that the Telangana police, with the highest number of phone recoveries, have proven that they are tech-savvy.
“This shows the dedication of our personnel in not only adapting to the changing technology and also using this technology for the benefit of the citizens,” she said.
She stressed that a mobile device holds an individual’s complete personal data, which is precious today.
“If you are careless, you are compromising your personal data. Others could commit a crime using your data. It’s better to be careful than be sorry,” Naik added.
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