Mumbai: A first-year MBBS student and Irish citizen, whose baggage containing clothes, cosmetics and other items went missing at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in June, was left depressed after the bag was allegedly stolen from inside the airport, police and family members said.The student, Harshita Agarwal (19), was on a two-month vacation and travelled to Mumbai to visit her maternal uncle’s home in Jalna. The family said Emirates Airlines showed little interest in helping recover the bag even after informing them that CCTV footage showed a man, described as a seafarer from Saudi Arabia, taking the bag and boarding a flight to Duhai.The case was registered at Sahar police station on Aug 2 after Jalna police took Agarwal’s complaint two weeks earlier and transferred the case file to Mumbai for further probe. “As the incident occurred almost a month and a half ago, our team has sought the CCTV footage to track down the person who took Agarwal’s baggage,” said a police officer of the Sahar police station.Police said there were over half a dozen similar theft cases in the last year and a half registered at Sahar and Airport police stations, but none was solved, and an insider role was suspected in the theft.Harshita’s mother, Preeti, who said the family had been staying in Ireland for the last two decades, told TOI: “For the first time we tried the costlier airline, Emirates, for our travel and this happened. We are on a two-month vacation, and now we are running around to get my daughter’s baggage as she has been under depression for the last three weeks after losing the bag. The airline informed us that they saw a man from Saudi Arabia, a seafarer, carrying my daughter’s bag. We were made to wait for three hours after we landed at Mumbai airport in June before we left with three bags while the fourth was stolen. We had filed an online complaint with Emirates Airliners but no one responded.”Preeti said the airline contacted them after they raised the issue on social media. “Immediately, the airliner called and told that they are ready to compensate. We told we want our stolen property and not interested in compensation. They are not even sharing the person’s details who took away our baggage neither they are calling him to return the bag,” said Preeti.In her complaint, Harshita said: “Since my first year of education in Ireland was completed and it was holidays, I, along with my mother named Priti and younger sister Dishita, were coming to our maternal uncle’s place in Jalna. On June 24, we reached Mumbai and after completing immigration check went to collect four bags. However, the fourth one which was mine was missing. My mother is making at least 10 calls daily to the airliner to get updates but in vain.”
