I had been busy since the past fortnight trying to get a car recovered. Following is the story. Note how Allah helped us to get it:
Mohsin (owner) lives in Park Towers, F-10 Markaz. On the morning of 24 October, I received his call at 7:59 a.m stating the car was missing.
1. Process (Problems):
Anti car lifting squad arrived and Rescue 15 also reached before i did exactly one hour later. Point is, they were quick for a change. The Towers have security cameras installed but those were said to be out of order so the Rescue Inspector went to have a check and grilled the security people for this. They took the minutest of details and told us to lodge an FIR. Went to the Shalimar Police Station F-10/2 where we were confronted by an ASI who called the guards on duty the night before and in the morning. These guys were questioned by the earlier teams at home also but at the station, they revealed some details, probably due to fear. Nothing worse than a Police Station you know.....On the other hand the ASI repeatedly told us to scan our friends and relatives who may have played a prank and to return the next day. We were angry but later I realized that it was a good thing because since the car was stolen, we were anxious, nervous and had all negative thoughts filled in our heads but by next day we had a good list of people who could be probable thieves so came true the Hadis 'Quick work is the devil's'. This was the benefit because the day earlier, Mohsin kept saying he didn't doubt anyone but now we had a list of several people ready. Anyways, once at the station, we submitted our report and were told to wait for the SHO whose approval was necessary. We went again in the evening and next, at one a.m at night but to no avail. Next day again, and got to know the SHO's mother in law had passed away which was the reason for his absence. The day after was Eid so everything came to a halt for the next few days.
2. Phone Calls from the 'thieves':
The day the car got stolen, I browsed PakWheels for some clues, just in case. I was lucky to come across https://www.pakwheels.com/forums/fraud-theft-alerts/199103-honda-city-2005-stolen-theft. Since Junaid_af had left his number there, I gave him a call to ask how he got his car back. He was lucky to have contacts but I did not feel inclined to ask for favors because as a person, I try to avoid 'harassing' those who have big guns as friends and family. Nonetheless, I sought details of the process at least.
Thanks to him, I got to know that after lodging an FIR, it is usual for one at times to receive a call from the robbers who demand ransom for the car since the number is leaked out by the police itself. Partially the same happened with us.....One fellow we got to know through someone claimed he had found details of the car. According to him, the car had been sold three times for Rs. 50000, then 60000 and finally for 100000 something and was now in Karachi. If we wanted the vehicle, we would have to pay Rs. 210000. Can you just believe that??? I mean a car that cost hundreds of thousands of rupees was being traded in just a few thousands? My blood was literally boiling at this.....anyhow, negotiations continued.
3. Recovery:
We had kept in touch with the police via phone. Then one day Mohsin's Khalid chacha in Lahore called to ask for the car's details and guess what? Some police party had called them to say the car had been found!
i) Police:
The callers were from Police Station Waris Khan close to Committee Chowk, Rawalpindi. We were told to reach and saw it parked there! The car was said to be parked in the parking lot of Benazir Hospital (previously known as Central Hospital) since Eid or the day before. According to police, the vehicle caught attention because it had not moved since five or six days.
Thankful to Allah and police, we were excited to get the car and were obviously eager to get it out but there began legal issues.....
ii) Court:
a) A report from the SHO had to be furnished to the court after which we would to get the supurdari done from the court the next day. Went, but there were documentary issues since the car is not in Mohsin's name.
b) Authority letter
The car is in the name of Tariq chacha who is based in Saudi Arabia. We needed a letter from him authorizing us to take delivery of the car. That took a few days owing to a mixture of international weekends (Thursday and Friday in KSA, Saturday and Sunday here).
c) Surety Bond:
Once we got the letter, we were told to furnish a surety bond.
d) Surety of property:
Surety of bond on a stamp paper was not enough so we were told to get a 'machalka', surety of property. I guess that works like a mortgage thing......I may be wrong though.....This was telling the court we have property or a product worth the value of the car, ready to be confiscated in case we were proved fraudsters by the owner. Of course in our case that couldn't happen but legally it was not possible to prove the uncle-nephew relationship and so we had to go through this.
iii) Police - again!
Finally last night we were at the same Mohrar's office with the due court approvals and were allowed to take the car. Hurrayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!
A few things I would like to mention are:
I know this topic has been really boring to read because not many would be keen to know the smaller details but i have spoken about them because I know there are many out there who are going through the same ordeal like us.
Second point of pride for me is that while almost everyone who loses stuff tries all sorts of high connections, we had almost second to none.....Just some small guy knew the cops at the Islamabad Station but that never helped as you may have realized.
Third, many people kept repeating that none would budge without bribe but Alhamdolillah, we were saved. We were particularly against this because it would be no fun getting out of one hell (loss of car) and jumping into the another, the real one. Clean intentions, objective achieved.
Fourth, not all policemen are corrupt. It was because of their help that we not only got the car back, but also went through the lengthy legal process with their help. The Mohrar Zulfiqar takes great pride in his work and went with us every single day to the courts, stayed with us throughout and patiently repeated whatever we never understood.
Fifth, everyone kept wondering how come a Honda City could be stolen whereas it is Corollas, Cultus 2009+ and Mehrbans that top the list. It was the ASI who was the first person to be surprised but later I saw a few others including some members here but even Junaid_af's car was one.
Sixth, no level of thankfulness is enough because we were lucky that while the registration, authority letter Mohsin previously had, a music USB and phone charger were missing,:
- nothing else was
- the car was in tact (!!!)
- there was no unlawful activity reported and last but not the least,
- there were no dents or lights/parts missing
The most interesting question in the entire scene is.........................while the car got stolen in Islamabad, and Mohsin's number was mentioned in all documents and police records, how did the Police reach Khalid Chacha in Lahore??? Any idea? There was a wedding invitation of the family in one of the doors of the car. The police rang the number mentioned in the RSVP and that was KC's!