An Indian Army clerk who lost his mobile phone during a train journey nearly three years ago has finally been reunited with his device, thanks to a relentless investigation by the Ottapalam police and India's Sanchar Saathi portal. The tracking of the mobile phone revealed an extraordinary international journey, with the device being sold in Canada before eventually returning to Kerala.

The owner of the phone, P Vipin, a native of Mangalamkunnu in Palakkad who works as an Army clerk, lost his handset in June 2023 while travelling home on leave aboard the Rajdhani Express. Upon realising the loss at Shoranur railway station, Vipin immediately lodged a complaint with the Railway Protection Force. The case was registered on the central Sanchar Saathi (CEIR) portal, mapped to the Ratnagiri station area, but initial tracking efforts yielded no results.

The Sanchar Saathi breakthrough
The breakthrough came during Vipin's recent visit home, when he approached the Ottapalam police to re-register the case on the Sanchar Saathi portal. Within days, the portal's automated tracking system triggered an alert showing that the device had been activated with a fresh SIM card in Pathanamthitta, Kerala.

An unexpected global journey
An investigation led by CPO Joby Kuryakose of the Ottapalam police station unravelled the phone's globe-trotting itinerary. A resident of Pathanamthitta had purchased the second-hand phone in Canada from a North Indian vendor. Unaware of its history, the buyer brought the phone back to Kerala. The moment he inserted a local SIM card, the Sanchar Saathi system flagged the active device, allowing the police to step in, recover the phone, and hand it back to Vipin.

This is not the first time the Ottapalam police have cracked such a complex tracking case. The station previously made headlines for tracking down and recovering a mobile phone that went missing in Keezhur all the way from Saudi Arabia.