Mumbai, Jul 18 (Mid-day): Umbrella comes in handy as 11-year-old hits robber who stole his sister’s phone; the duo then give chase and catch the robber with the help of cabbies

The Nadar siblings cannot be messed with. When confronted with a thief who stole their mobile phone, the duo chased him down, caught him and ensured that he’s put behind bars. Vincy (15) and Mathew (11) Nadar were on their way to the Sunday mass when the incident occurred. They ran after the robber for 100 metres, after which they caught hold of him with the help of some taxi drivers.

Vincy, a Std X student of Auxilium Convent High School and Mathew, a Std VI student of St Joseph School in Wadala stepped out of their home at 7.50 am yesterday, to go for their Sunday mass. They were walking near the GTB Nagar railway station in Sion. “We were walking towards a taxi. Since it was a Sunday, there was no crowd on the road,” Vincy told mid-day. Mathew added, “While we were walking, I saw one man continuously following us. I whispered to my sister saying that someone is following us. We started walking fast when the person came closer to us.”

Vincy said, “I was carrying my Sony Xperia mobile phone. The person came very close to me and tried to take away my phone. I kept holding it and shouted, ‘chor chor’ (thief, thief). At the same time, my brother pulled out his umbrella and started hitting the person. However, he managed to snatch my phone and started running.”

The siblings decided to give the thief a chase and ran for over 100 metres. Vincy said, “While running, we kept shouting chor chor. A few taxi drivers at the bridge came forward to help and we managed to catch the person.”

The robber was taken to local Antop Hill beat Chowky 1 and Vincy phoned her father Sudhakar, who rushed to the spot. The accused, Kanan Mariyappa Devendra (31) was taken to Antop Hill police station and an FIR was filed under section 379 of the Indian Penal Code. He has been arrested and will be produced in court on Monday.

Proud father

“I am very proud of my children, they were very brave. Vincy wants to become an IPS officer and she is working very hard,” said Sudhakar. He added, “In such incidents, people don’t file FIRs as the property is seized and there is a long procedure to get it back from court. I insisted on filing an FIR and my daughter’s phone is currently with the police. Since she is the complainant, she will have to go through many formalities. But, it is necessary as such criminals are then behind bars and don’t do something like this again.”

Vincy said, “I was not afraid at all. People should be calm in such situations and think of their own safety too. Nowadays such incidents are on rise, I appeal to people to fight such criminals.”