Quick answer
Go in this order: lock or wipe the phone remotely if you can, file a police complaint, and get a duplicate SIM on your lost number from your operator. That SIM can take SMS only about 24 hours after activation, and CEIR sends its OTP there. Then fill in CEIR’s Block Stolen/Lost Mobile form, either on the portal or in the Sanchar Saathi app. CEIR says that once a request is accepted, the handset is blocked across every mobile network in India within 24 hours. You’ll get an 18-digit Request ID; guard it, because unblocking the phone later depends on it.
It’s tempting to open the blocking portal first. Hold off. The CEIR form asks for a police complaint number and sends an OTP to your old number, so your real first stops are the police station and your operator’s store.
Here is the whole sequence, from the first hour after the loss to the day you get the phone back.
In this article10 topics
- Hour one: lock down your money and data
- Day one: police complaint and duplicate SIM
- Day two: fill in the CEIR block form
- What happens once you hit Proceed
- When the form pushes back
- Found it? How to unblock the handset
- Does blocking lead anywhere? The official numbers
- Sanchar Saathi’s other tools
- CEIR doubts, cleared up
- Sources and further reading
Hour one: lock down your money and data
A CEIR block cuts the handset off from mobile networks but leaves its contents alone. Everything stored on it, including your photos, chats and documents, remains on the handset, so protect it separately wherever you can:
- Android: visit android.com/find (Google’s Find Hub) to lock or erase the phone. Copy the IMEI from there before you erase anything, because an erased phone vanishes from Find Hub.
- iPhone: use Find My to lock or erase it.
Warning: Were UPI or banking apps installed on the phone? Ask your bank to block them. Already lost money? Dial 1930 and lodge a report at cybercrime.gov.in at once.
Day one: police complaint and duplicate SIM
- Go to the police. The complaint can be an FIR or simply a lost report. Note the complaint number and keep a copy of it, since CEIR wants both.
- Get your number back on a duplicate SIM. Visit one of your operator’s stores. Once the number sits on a SIM you hold, CEIR’s OTP reaches you and a thief can no longer collect your OTPs.
- Allow for a gap of about a day. A re-issued SIM starts accepting SMS 24 hours after activation, so the CEIR form usually has to wait until tomorrow.
While you wait, hunt down the IMEI
CEIR doesn’t insist on the IMEI, but a quick search is worth it:
- Paperwork: look at the phone’s packaging or the invoice from the shop. A dual-SIM phone will show two IMEI numbers.
- Android: on android.com/find, choose your device and go to its settings, where the IMEI is listed as long as Find Hub was on.
- iPhone: visit account.apple.com and log in with the same Apple Account the iPhone was using. Under Devices, select that iPhone and you’ll see the IMEI and serial number.
Tip: Reading this with your phone still in hand? Dial *#06# and save the IMEI numbers it displays somewhere you can open from any device, your email for example.
Day two: fill in the CEIR block form
- Open sancharsaathi.gov.in or the Sanchar Saathi app and choose Block Your Lost/Stolen Mobile Handset. You land on the CEIR form, which you can also open on ceir.gov.in under CEIR Services → Block Stolen/Lost Mobile.
- Numbers: enter the lost number, now working on your duplicate SIM. Mobile Number 2 is only for a second SIM that was in the handset.
- Handset: give the brand and price, plus the model, if known. The IMEI field says “if available”, and the purchase bill isn’t compulsory either.
- Loss and complaint: say when and where the phone went missing, pick the police station, district and State/UT, type in the complaint number and attach the complaint copy.
- Owner: give the name and address of the owner, pick an ID type and upload a copy. PAN, masked Aadhaar, driving licence and Voter ID are all fine, and other IDs work as well.
- OTP: fill the captcha, then press Get OTP. It’s sent to Mobile Number 1, a field the form fills with your re-issued number automatically. Enter the code, check the self-declaration box, then press Proceed. Left the IMEI blank? After verification, a pop-up shows the handsets tied to your number; pick yours (pop-ups need to be allowed).
- Request ID: write down the 18-digit number shown at the end. You’ll need it for status checks and for unblocking.
Field details reflect the CEIR block form as of 9 October 2026.
What happens once you hit Proceed
Per CEIR, the handset is blocked on all of India’s mobile networks within 24 hours of a successful request, yet stays traceable by the police. DoT adds that if anyone puts a SIM in the blocked handset, an alert goes to you and to the police station where you lodged the complaint.
Progress can be checked on ceir.gov.in: open CEIR Services, choose Check Request Status, then type the Request ID or your police complaint number.
When the form pushes back
| What you run into | What it means and what to do |
|---|---|
| The OTP never arrives | If the duplicate SIM was activated less than 24 hours ago, it can’t receive SMS yet. Wait out the day and try again. |
| You don’t have the IMEI | Leave the field empty. After the OTP check, pick your phone from the pop-up list of handsets tied to your number (allow pop-ups first). |
| “Request already exist… by State police” | This handset and number have already been blocked through the State police. |
| A new phone that never had a SIM inserted | Take an FIR listing the IMEI numbers to your district’s CEIR nodal police officer. |
| You lost the phone before CEIR began in your state | It can’t be filed. CEIR only accepts losses dated on or after the day it went live in your state. |
| The Request ID has gone missing | Use Forgot Request ID in the CEIR Services menu. |
Found it? How to unblock the handset
- Tell the police station where you filed the complaint that the phone has been recovered.
- On ceir.gov.in, open CEIR Services, choose Un-Block Found Mobile, then Un-Blocking Request.
- Type in the Request ID plus the mobile number that got the OTP during blocking. Pick a reason from the list (found by self, recovered by police, blocked by mistake or other reason), then complete the captcha and the OTP step.
If the police placed the block, only the police can remove it. Expect one more message after recovery, too: a Communications Ministry statement carried by IANS says owners whose recovered phones are returned receive an SMS advising a factory reset, as protection against malware.
Does blocking lead anywhere? The official numbers
The CEIR dashboard on 9 October 2026 showed 61,35,806 handsets blocked, 38,04,564 traced, and 14,14,884 recoveries in its state-wise table. In July 2026, recoveries topped 75,000 in a single month for the first time, reaching 77,692, according to the Ministry of Communications.
None of this guarantees your own phone comes home. What a block does is turn a stolen handset into something much harder to use or resell, and that alone makes filing worthwhile.
Sanchar Saathi’s other tools
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) launched Sanchar Saathi as an app on 17 January 2025, for both Android and iPhone, and it has offered 21 regional languages besides Hindi since July 2025. Beyond blocking a lost handset, it shows every mobile connection taken in your name, lets you report suspected fraud calls and messages through Chakshu, and checks whether a handset is genuine.
Keeping it is your choice. The government withdrew the pre-install rule for phone makers on 3 December 2025, so uninstalling the app is fine.
Checking a second-hand phone with KYM
On the phone you’re thinking of buying, dial *#06#, then text KYM <15-digit IMEI> to 14422 before any money changes hands. You can also use Know Genuineness of Your Mobile Handset inside the app. Any of these three results means don’t buy: black-listed, already in use or duplicate. Our second-hand phone checklist handles the rest, from iCloud and FRP locks to battery health.
From the Mobivault counter: Whenever someone comes to us after losing a phone, our first advice never changes: get the duplicate SIM issued and the police complaint filed before anything else, because the CEIR form can’t be completed without them. Buying a used phone? Match the IMEI on the box against the one *#06# shows, and then run a KYM check as well.
CEIR doubts, cleared up
Can I file the block before my duplicate SIM is working?
No. The form verifies you with an OTP on your lost number, and a re-issued SIM only starts receiving SMS about 24 hours after activation. Sort out the SIM first.
How fast is the handset barred?
Within 24 hours of a successful request, according to CEIR. Count on roughly another day before that, while the duplicate SIM becomes able to receive the OTP.
Do I have to involve the police?
Yes. Without a complaint number and an uploaded copy, the form won’t go through, so get a lost report or FIR registered first.
Will blocking erase what’s stored on the phone?
No. CEIR only stops the handset from working on mobile networks. Wiping is a separate job, done through Find Hub for Android phones or Find My for iPhones.
I never saved my IMEI. Am I stuck?
Not at all. The form only wants the IMEI “if available”, so you can skip it. After OTP verification, choose your phone from the pop-up list of handsets tied to your number (allow pop-ups). Still, check the box, the invoice and android.com/find before giving up on it.
Sources and further reading
- CEIR form to block a stolen or lost handset
- CEIR request to unblock a phone you have recovered
- CEIR portal on Sanchar Saathi, with FAQs and the live dashboard
- Order dropping compulsory pre-installation of Sanchar Saathi (PIB, 3 December 2025)
- AIR News (August 2026) on the record recovery of lost handsets
- Sanchar Saathi KYM tool for checking whether a handset is genuine
- PIB release on alerts when a SIM is inserted in a blocked handset
- PIB (17 January 2025): Sanchar Saathi app goes live
- IANS (August 2026): more than 77,000 stolen phones recovered in July
- Apple Support: finding the IMEI or serial number of an iPhone
