Hi.
Let me start straight to the point. I bought a mobile from Ebay.com from a very reputed seller, a clean guy with good seller's hostry . after a few days of recieving, he didn't send the bill/warranty etc., and when I asked to send it , he didn't bother to even write back to me.I ignored as I had copies of my correspondence with him, his bank acoc*nt no. and my trasaction copy where I had deposited the money + I had the shipping consignment no. that got me the phone at my address.
In a few days, the seller wrote back to me that he wanted to take the phone back . He also suggested that I could get into trouble. I didn't bother to return it to him as my experience with this fellow wasn't good enough+ I didn't even take it seriously.
In a few days, i got a call from Crime branch, Police that i was using a stolen phone which was one of the things stolen in a big time burglary in a house. Coincidentally, they mentioned that the burglary was near to my other house in delhi where I stayed a few years back. The called me to report to the crime branch the next day with the phone and I left immediately. I went to delhi for this. I didn't bother to even inform my parents ( my father being a Top shot in delhi). Police had also told me to not contact or speak to the phone seller anythng about this.
After going there to police and showing them my correspondence etc and other proofs of my purchase with the seller, the cops didn't bother to even call him up. when they felt they was uneasy at the police station, they started pressurising me more saying that since the phone was in use with me, I was the culprit and they could lock me up. My fault that I had not even taken a lawyer along.
They also immediately took the phone from me and then erased all my data from it.
- Now they didn't bother to show me any FIR that the phone was actually stolen.
- When i asked them to call the complainant or give me his details and let me meet him, they refused.
- When I was giving them the charger, they said the charger wasn't needed, only the phone.
-Three of them were pressuring me and I was alone , so my mind had stopped working by then. When I asked them to give me an official reciept that they are taking the phone from me, they again started ' Taallamtol' that if they give me an deposit challan, then they would also need to lock me up as the phone was found with me. But I insisted on a proof that I was handing over the phone to them. They started delaying it, mutual discussion and everything and finally,I had to tell them Who my father is and how I could have simply sent a guy from any Ministry to solve it all if I had not decided to handle this game alone. Though I wasn't keen to disturb my dad.
after learning this, they asked me to write a note that i was depositing this phone here and asked me to write ref, to an FIR no. which they had not even shown me. By that time, they knew I was tense and tired and just wanted to leave. Then they made a photocopy of it and gave it to me, but unstamped and unsigned. When I asked for a stamp, , they said because the Fir no. was there, this was a vlalid proof. I wasn't convinced, but still I Left. They dropped me to Metro station in a car and again told me not to contact the phone seller about this. They also asked me if was going to tell my dad but I said i wasn't sure. They offered me two cups of Tea in the prcess which I was glad to accept, and then they gave me a water bottle for the way back home.
On the way back, i analysed the entire situation and realised that I had been fooled by them. Here my reasons,
- when they had contacted me first, they said that I could just send the phone woth any cousin, mama, brother, uncle or anyone. It signifies that they didn't want to really see me, they just wanted the phone.
- They wanted the phone, but not the phone charger. While they could easily frame me somewhere but I believe that they probably want to return it to the owner as a ' Lost and found' article. so if u find something on the road, you find only the phone, not the charger.
- I wasn't officially given a stamped deposit challan as they want to do it unofficially.
- I was told not to contact the phone seller so that they could contact him later and probably some money...
- I was told to forget my own money when I asked them to arrange me a refund for my phone from the seller.
- I wasn't given any travelling expenses though they had told that they would give.
- When I told them that i can deposit the phone at my local police station, they refused.
- The theft or' lost' was in a shopping mall and not in any house near to mine.
The whole stories they gave right from beginning was a game of Lies. Had it been a serious theft case as they said over phone, they would have directly come to my place to arrest me instead of giving me 48 hours to come and when my coming wasn't even important, only phone was needed. The theft case was just a mobile theft or may be 'lost' case , hence Fir wasn't shown to me. i wasn't allowed to meet the complainant so that he doens' turn out to be my acquaintance as I had lived near to complainant's house for many years. They didn't also want to say that I get the recievng reciept from the complainant. I was told not to contact the seller as they don't want me to ask him for a refund.
All in all, now I haven't recieved my money and am not even sure where my phone has gone now. I dont have any formal reciept of handing over the phone to them , nor can I lodge an Fir now as they have an informally signed deposit application with them.
I want to have both and I need to be sure that this case doesn't give me a problem in future. what is the best course of action?
My alternatives:
- Hire a lawyer to handle it all. But how do I prove that I have deposted the phone with them?
- Contact a minister and reach the commisioner and then call these cops there.
- Forget the entire episode as a sad part, ' it happened, it happened thing'. where where the phone goes is troubling me as in if something serius happens with that phone involved, I think i will be in atrouble again.
Kindly suggest the best thing to do in this case.
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