Mysuru police recover, return 1k smartphones to its owners

Mysuru: Nearly 1,000 smartphones of Mysuru residents that were either lost or stolen have been recovered by Mysuru district police using the Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) and returned to their owners.

Superintendent of police Mallikarjun Baladandi on Tuesday told reporters that the phones were recovered from across India and the majority of them from Kerala and Maharashtra. Once the complaint is registered on the CEIR portal, the phone can be tracked down easily when put to use in any part of India. The user’s new number is displayed to police, who then call the user, informing that it is a stolen device. They were told to send it to the police station, and more than 50% of them abide by the direction to avoid legal complications, but many of them switch it off.

In 2024, police recovered about 300 phones against 2,315 registered on the CEIR portal, and in 2025 about 372 phones were recovered against 1,336 cases. In 2026, 285 phones were recovered against 1,075 cases registered. Efforts are under way to trace the remaining phones, the SP told reporters.

Raghu, a truck driver, who lost his Rs 25k worth phone in Feb, was happy to receive the phone on Monday. He thanked the police for their efforts.