Back here after a few months. So I have been hopping from one crisis to another …trying to handle one before the next one hits. But that is life I guess.
My bldg went for redevelopment so I vacated & moved to a flat on lease (after signing PAAA with the developer)… new leased flat is not in the same area. A couple of wks after I moved, I was attending a day-long work conference & returned home in the evening to find that my entire home (the leased one) had been ransacked and burgled. Got the shock of my life. The sight of the ransacked home when I came back home still traumatises me. As a single woman I am still shaken by the episode.
The issue is they broke the old Godrej cupboards & cleared out everything from the safe… including cash, jewellery, silverware, post office passbooks (MIS, KVP, NSC), locker keys along with locker rent recpts and all original documents - old passport, new passport, Aadhaar, voter id, ration card etc. Its a cataclysmic event of sorts for me. I have the PAN card and DL because I happened to be carrying them in my wallet. I am pretty much going to start from scratch now. Never even thought that I would see a day like this. Apart from a bunch of other chaos, I am obviously worried about ID theft/ fraud… Never felt so unsafe in my whole life… Forget the huge financial loss, I would be happy even if I just get back my original documents. Not sure if Digilocker would have been of any help…
Would anyone here be able to help on the process if all documents are lost? My situation is rather delicate because of the address shift just before the burglary. I had no intention to change my address on any of my documents because I will move into my own home again within 3 yrs once the new tower comes up but now I don’t know… The old bldg got demolished & bhoomi poojan was conducted. This is a long shot i know but has anyone else gone thru something similar? Passport is the most crucial doc for me I guess. I have avoided submitting my aadhaar copy anywhere so far (I belong to the data privacy brigade) but my aadhaar & PAN are linked on the Income Tax portal so I could dodge the aadhaar bullet. This is fast turning out to be my worst nightmare ever…
P.S: A lot of learnings from the event… from the FIR process to handling cops in the aftermath…
If you are a solo woman (or everyone else for that matter) pls be extra careful of which area/ society you pick while leasing a flat. Preferably lease a flat in a gated society with security & CCTV. Pls also get a double door installed on priority (even if you have to pay for it & the landlord is not paying for it). Check the main door - in my case, the lock was intact but they just pulled & dismantled the cheap quality of Aldrop used… I should not have relied on the aldrop & lock … I should have got a new latch - biggest mistake of my life & its gonna haunt me forever. Please get an electronic safe. Godrej cupboards even the old ones are easy to break into as I discovered.
Do not keep your original documents in the safe with your valuables. Keep them in a different place. Keep valuables in the bank locker. Don’t keep anything at home. Ladies, pls keep all your jewellery in the bank locker.
There is a spate of robberies happening in the area- all during day time and I hope the cops increase their patrolling.
Get the aadhaar smart card (50/-) but it will take few days to arrive. Downloaded & printed aadhaar is legally valid but ‘smart-know-it-all-attitude’ guys at govt offices don’t consider it “original”. So, other option is to get the unofficially printed aadhaar card in a card format, local shops around you should be able to help. They will charge max Rs. 100.
Thank you for posting this inspite of the difficulties faced so that others can learn from this.
I too know a case where the buglers when they realised they did not get any valuables from an elderly lady house, they just tore the title deeds and other documents.
Take it one step at a time. I am sure you can do it.
I feel everyone should try and scan original documents and keep in their email or one drive or any other electronic way.
Thanks Neha for your kind words… Agree with you on the necessity to scan documents and keep them safe in email/drive.
I was lucky that among the stuff thrown on my bed (while robbing) was the original PAAA folder for my new home… this is so important for me. When I spoke to the developer about the burglary, the first question he asked was “Madam, pls first check if your original agreement is safe” & I told him it was thrown carelessly by them & lying on the bed. If I had lost that, then it would have been very very difficult for me I hear.
ma’am, apologies for what you’ve had to go through.
As far as aadhaar is concerned, there’s nothing “original”. Aadhaar is supposed to be a number, so as someone has suggested, please obtain a duplicate Aadhaar. Same with all other documents - passport, voter id, ration card etc. Since you’re going to file a police complaint, I’m guessing you can use a copy of the FIR to obtain new copies of all documents.
FIR was lodged the same day…The first thing I did after I reached home, was call the cops. Next I rang the landlord and informed him. The landlord was not bothered & didn’t do anything. Multiple teams of cops (all men, no woman included) came over to visit… Everyone would enter, walk through the flat with shoes on & walk out… nobody even took any notes/ clicked pix. I had to visit the police station 6 times that evening between 7 pm to 2 am & even then the FIR was registered only when someone influential spoke to the ACP… till that time the cops didn’t cooperate at all & had zero empathy…
@Dorkstar1 All this what you are saying seems so easy in theory… It’s a lot lot tougher in real life… because I had just moved from my old home when this happened.
btw do you guys know that FIR is not editable? If you want to add more missing items, then they ask you to give a statement which can be changed infinite times…
If you want your address to be the one in lease agreement you can first update Aadhar with that address (gas or electricity bill), then with Aadhar you can update bank address .
Few banks take current address without any address proof. You just have to have a link of PAN and Aadhar and then they do Aadhar biometrics. One person will verify your presence at the address and one week it takes to get your address reflect in your bank page.