My husband works in construction. He builds a factory in a city which takes his team a year or two and then we move on to the next city.
The year 2008 to 2010 was spent in Gurgaon.
I wrote in one of my articles on Rise for India about the one crime that I fell victim of in Gurgaon. I also wrote how Haryana police was of no help to me then.
After Gurgaon, we stayed in Bhiwadi, Greater Noida and now in Chennai. Living in different places is fun but it comes with it’s own set of challenges too. Every time we have to transfer our lpg connection. Every time we have to get a new phone number (thankfully now we have MNP).
Similarly everytime I had been requesting my bank to change my correspondence address. I had given handwritten letters and filled in the address change form too, several times. But Axis Bank was least bothered to change my address. As a result my address of correspondence remained as Gurgaon.
This year again when I contacted the Axis Bank branch in my hometown, they assured me that my address will be changed in 48 hours. I also requested the branch manager for a new debit card as the old one’s chip was worn out. I filled in a form again.
After 48 hours I checked with the customer care of Axis bank but my address was not changed and the agent suggested to change it online. I did that but this did not help too.
Meanwhile I recieved a call from a courier boy asking for my address. When I asked him for a landmark that he was standing near, I realized that he was standing near my old Gurgaon address. I told him that he should return the card back to the bank as I don’t stay there anymore.
I informed the Bank about this and the customer care agent assured me that the card has been blocked. A few days later on 22nd June 2015, I received a message which indicated that the PIN of my new card was delivered again to my old Gurgaon address. I called the customer care for an explanation and they said that as the PIN was already been dispatched it has been delivered. But I need not worry as the card is blocked.
I believed the customer care and was carefree regarding my card now. However on 3rd September 2015 at 2:32 AM, I received a series of messages which said that Rs.23000 was debited from my Axis Bank account from an ATM in Gurgaon.
I could check the message only after 9:30 AM. I immediately blocked my card. But all the money was gone. The customer care of Axis Bank kept putting me on hold for atleast an hour on each call just to check what I was supposed to do next. Extremely disappointed with the agents on the other end , I went to the nearest branch of Axis Bank. The manager there asked me to lodge an FIR. I questioned them on how did they hand over my card to a wrong person without verification. But all they had to say was that I should ask this to the home branch and not them. They did not even take my written complaint saying that their branch cannot help me anyhow on this.
Next I went to the nearest police station where two lady constables could converse only in Tamil. Finally after 20 minutes an officer arrived who listened to my story. He listened everything patiently and asked my current address. As soon as he heard my address, he immediately concluded that this case doesn’t come under this police station. He just guided me to my area police station. I went to my area’s police which to my surprise took me 40 minutes. When I reached there, the only officer who was in the corridor told me that as there was no one in the Crime branch right now, I should come after two hours. On insisting he gave me the number of the FIR writer of crime branch, who couldn’t understand me and kept repeating that I should speak in Tamil as he does not understand English.
Then came another officer to whom I narrated the incidence for the 5th time now. After listening to the entire story he said that I have to go to Gurgaon to lodge a complaint as the crime has taken place in Gurgaon. And yes while leaving I narrated the incidence for the 6th time to a sub inspector who refused to tell his name and he suggested that this is a cyber crime case.
I was wondering that a criminal can do the crime from anywhere in our country but a victim cannot lodge a simple FIR from anywhere!!! None of the police officers knew if there was a facility of lodging a complaint online.
Fairly dissatisfied and highly disappointed, I came back home. Looking at my sad face, my husband started searching for an option to lodge a complaint online. And to our surprise there was one started by Haryana govt. recently.
Harsamay is a citizen portal website launched by Haryana Police. With much unsure mindset I called on 0172-2587900 which is the number for their citizen support. The way Mr. Narendra from Harsamay spoke to me from the other side was unbelievable. For the first time I felt that I can speak very casually to the police Department. He listened to each of my words with great empathy and guided me so well that everything seemed really easy.
I lodged a complaint against the bank and everyday got the update about it on my phone.
On 11th September 2015, the person who recieved my card and took out the money called me and apologised for everything. And on 12th September 2015 he returned my money back along with the card and the pin.
All the while CNBC – Awaz Pehredar team also did regular follow up of the case and helped me a lot. Just one retweet by Richa Aniruddh mentioning Priyanka Sambhav gave me this strength.
The bank has not even called me once or given me any explanation yet. They sent a routine mail which said that they are looking into the matter and it will take 7 business days for that. I also got a message from the bank that the card that I possess has been blocked however the card which was delivered to wrong address has been activated. The bank has no explanation for that message too!
How can we trust a bank who can deliver all our confidential documents and even a debit card to a wrong person without any kind of verification? But hats off to Haryana Police and its online Support and shows like Pehredar who are there to help the common man!!
Special thanks to Aditya Katoch (my husband), Priyanka Sambhav, Navendu and Dheeraj (Pehredar Team)
And a big thanks to Mr. Narendra from Haryana Police.
