"They saw you using it": the story of the theft of the Apple Watch of a man shattered by CISF

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The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has rubbished allegations by a man who claims to be a doctor that somebody stole his Apple watch during security check-in at Delhi airport.


Tushar Mehta, who on his X handle identified as a Gurugram-based doctor, in a post alleged that after the security check-in, he followed a man who he suspected to be the thief to a watch store, and saw the thief giving the watch to a salesman.


Mr Gupta alleged he confronted the salesman and retrieved his watch, after which the salesman and a CISF official came to him at the boarding gate and told him to apologise for his "rude behaviour".


The post soon went viral on social media.


The CISF, after checking CCTV footage, posted a reply to Mr Gupta that nothing of the sort that he narrated happened.


By then the doctor deleted his post and deactivated his X handle too.


"The review of the CCTV has contradicted the sequence of events as narrated above. After security check, you were seen wearing your watch and heading for boarding gate without interaction with any CISF personnel. The boarding was completed smoothly and hassle-free," the CISF said.


"Posting of such unsubstantiated messages creates unnecessary apprehension in the minds of passengers, hence avoidable," the CISF said.


Dear Pax,
The review of the CCTV has contradicted the sequence of events as narrated above. After security check, you were seen wearing your watch and heading for boarding gate without interaction with any CISF personnel. The boarding was completed smoothly and hassle-free.(1/2)
— APS - CISF (@CISFAirport) January 26, 2025


The CISF did not say whether a case would be filed against the passenger for giving wrong information.


Before he deactivated his X handle, Mr Mehta in a long post said he put his Apple watch in the tray during security check-in.


"The moment I crossed security, I started putting things back into my laptop bag. I could feel that something is missing and I realised I don't have my watch. I asked the CISF guy standing there. He asked me to look again in my bag, pocket etc which I had already done," he said.


"I turned around curiously and saw someone looking back at me while walking away. I didn't care about what CISF guy was about to do or say and started walking for that guy. Few steps ahead I saw him standing at the Titan Watches Helios store on the left," Mr Mehta said in the post that he deleted later.


"I confronted him and forcibly put my hand over his trouser pocket and I could feel the watch. The sales guy standing at Helios came over towards me and behaved weirdly as it had nothing to do with him. Forcefully I took out my watch (I am glad I could and I did). The guy who took my watch and the Helios guy tried to confront me which made me realise that they knew each other from before. The Helios guy looped me in and meanwhile the other guy left the shop and escaped," he said.


He added that he left the shop after an argument because he was getting late for the flight.


"Meanwhile on the way to the gate, a CISF guy came with the Helios guy and started asking me for my rude behaviour and asked to apologise," Mr Mehta said.


The CISF's airport security wing responded to the post and asked Mr Mehta to share his PNR and contact number to probe the matter.


Some hours later, the CISF after going through CCTV footage replied that nothing of the sort that Mr Mehta described happened.