Kerala doctor gets robbed by pickpockets in Italy; warns fellow travellers in social media post
The doctor and his wife, who lost their passport, credit and debit cards, were later given emergency passports by the Indian Consulate in Milan at the intervention of Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor
In an incident that could be lesson for Indians travelling abroad, a doctor from Kerala has shared his nightmarish ordeal in Italy where he and his wife lost their passports, credit cards and cash to pickpockets.
Jothydev Kesavadev, a doctor and diabetes researcher from Kerala, was visiting Italy along with his wife Sunitha to present a paper in Florence.
The couple on March 5 was in the Milan Central railway station to take a train to Florence when the incident happened.
‘Robbed by African American man, his aide’
Recounting the incident in a detailed post on X, Kesavadev says they suspect of being pickpocketed by an African American man and his female companin at the railway station.
“The time exactly was 6:20 pm. A tall, lean African American man bumped on to me. His large trolley bag hit on my right knee and I almost fell down. My wife, out of shock forgot the surroundings and bent down to help me out. When I looked back I saw a woman passing by her and then the woman and the man disappeared instantly,” Kesavadev says in the post.
He says that when his wife opened her handbag 10 minutes later, she found her wallet containing their passports, credit and debit cards and the cash was missing.
After a long wait at the Italian Police Department, the couple finally managed to file an FIR and were subsequently asked to approach the Indian Consulate at Milan.
Kesavadev says that while he and his wife were still hoping to get their passports back, they were told that the theft of passports was common in Italy and getting them back was nearly impossible.
He says the thieves tried to use both the debit and credit cards within 30 minutes of stealing the wallet.
“Fortunately we lost only 28 euros.”
Shashi Tharoor comes to the rescue
The couple managed to spend the night at a hotel and the next morning called their family friend and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor.
“Early morning I messaged our family friend and MP, Shri.Shashi Tharoor. His response was quick and powerful. Immense gratitude to SC. He immediately informed the Indian consulate in Italy and by 9:00 AM I received a call from there. Consulate General Shri. Atul Chawhan, consoled us and promised emergency passport for both of us,” Kesavadev said in his post.
Word of caution for fellow Indians
Kesavadev says he also learnt that such robberies are common in Italy and even the Indian Consulate provides strict instructions in this regard on its website.
“We were shaken to the core and somewhere felt guilty. Probably due to repeated travels over several decades we were so careless and this is a lesson to learn from!” he said.
Kesavadev says the Indian Consulate kept good on its promise and provided him and his wife two emergency passports while assuring them to return to India only after attending the meeting and presentations in Florence.
“Dear friends let me tell you, losing the passport and money in a foreign country is very very scary and a fearful experience! I am sharing this experience in the social media; whether you are a traveller or not, inexperienced or experienced, could be of some help.”
Reacting to the post, Tharoor said he was pleased that the consulate did what was needed.
“Glad it all worked out in the end @jothydev! So pleased our consulate did what was needed so well,” he posted on X.
