PUNE: Financial institutions repeatedly advise account holders not to write the personal identification number (PIN) on their debit/credit card or its cover as the repercussion could be steep. Despite the warning, a 20-year-old student from Osmanabad district did exactly that and lost Rs50,000 in the bargain.Mauli Satish Bhilare’s wallet was stolen by a pickpocket while he was at the Swargate bus stand on Friday. Bhilare had noted the PIN on one of the two debit cards in the wallet.After realizing that the wallet was missing, the student from Pandharewadi village in Osmanabad district immediately blocked the card. However, by then Rs50,000 had been withdrawn from his account. The amount was withdrawn within 10 minutes of the wallet being stolen from an ATM kiosk of a private bank, located near the Swargate bus stand.A case has been registered in this regard with the Swargate police station.The son of a farmer, Bhilare had come to Pune to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree from a city college. “Before getting admission in the college, I visited an NGOin the city that is providing lodging and boarding facilities at a nominal cost to students from economically weaker section to pursue higher education here,” Bhilare said.Later in the afternoon, Bhilare decided to go home to talk to his parents. “I reached the Swargate bus stand around 1.30pm. There was a crowd of passengers at the bus stand. I somehow managed to board the bus for Osmanabad and got a seat,” Bhilare said.As soon as he settled into his seat, Bhilare realized that his wallet was missing. “There was Rs800 and two debit cards in my wallet. My father had given his debit card to me, in case I needed money for the admission process,” Bhilare said.The complainant pointed out that, as his father is not educated, the latter had written the PIN of his debit card on its cover. “When I realized that, I immediately called my father and asked him to get help from someone in the village and block his card. However, my father could not do that,” ” Bhilare said.With no option left, Bhilare de-boarded the bus. “I looked for the bank’s number on my cell phone. I contacted the bank and blocked the card as soon as I could. Then I went to the Swargate police station and lodged a complaint,” he stated.It was only later that Bhilare came to know that the thief had emptied his father’s bank account by withdrawing Rs50,000. “The amount was withdrawn from a private bank’s ATM near the Swargate bus stand before I could block the card,” he said.The Swargate police are in the process of collecting CCTV footage from the ATM kiosk as well as from the Swargate bus stand in order to ascertain the identity of the suspect. Sub-inspector Shrikant Patil is investigating the case.

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