Call from Ireland to Delhi saves man's life in Mumbai

It all started at 7:51 pm on Saturday when Anyesh Roy, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Cell) in Delhi Police received a call from a Facebook official in Ireland, who identified suicidal activity on the social media account of a person with a Delhi mobile number.

The Facebook official told Roy that she would be sending the details on his official email about the account in the name of a woman along with the phone number.

Roy decided against calling the woman directly fearing a panic response, immediately located her address in east Delhi's Mandawali as well as the location of the phone. Both matched and then the address was shared with Deputy Commissioner of Police (East Delhi) Jasmeet Singh, who immediately sent local police staff to her residence.

Within minutes, a senior police official said, the police team was at the doorsteps of the woman, whom they found fine though an intercontinental call has already created much panic within the force.

The woman told police that the phone number was hers while the account in her name was being used by her husband. Asked about her husband, she told the police personnel that he had left for Mumbai after a fight with her and was working as a cook in a small hotel.

Adding to the tension, she could not provide the police team with an address but gave his mobile number. Singh then passed on this information to Roy, who tried to contact the man but his phone was not reachable.

Immediately, Roy got in touch with his counterparts in Mumbai Police Bal Singh Rajput and Dr Rashmi Karandikar. Karandikar immediately scanned for details and kept calling Rajesh, whose phone was still switched off.

Time was running out but luckily, Rajesh switched on his phone for a brief time when Karandikar managed to connect to him.

"Rajesh was in a lot of psychological distress and she counselled him. Simultaneously, Mumbai Police sent local police of Bhayandar area, a suburb of Mumbai. Local police immediately located the place where he was staying. At the end of this intercontinental exercise involving multiple jurisdictions and some quick action on the part of officials involved, there was a man on the edge of the abyss, whose life was saved," the official said.