KOTHAGUDEM: Closed circuit television cameras appear to be complementing traditional investigating systems, such as sniffer dogs and fingerprint experts, for solving criminal cases.
It was Usha Mehra Commission that had suggested that governments set up more CC cameras to check crimes against women after Nirbhaya case in Delhi.
These cameras proved to be of great utility in busting the inter-state gang, which burgled a bank at Laxminagaram in Dummugudem area of Bhadradri-Kothagudem district. The gang had used gas cutters to open lockers of SBI branch in Laxminagaram and took away ₹ 19 lakh.
An investigating team led by Dummugudem police station circle inspector Nallagatla Venkateswarlu nabbed those involved in the bank robbery case within one month.
The inspector said, “Sniffer dogs showed us the way robbers had entered the bank. There was little scope of nabbing culprits based on fingerprints. We could not recognise persons involved in the crime using footage available at the bank, as it was unclear. But it did indicate the time of offence.”
Investigators checked CC cameras located at various places at Laxminagaram and Bhadrachalam. They found a white Mahendra Scorpio AP-28A-AZ 6678 moving through both the places.
Then they noticed the same vehicle on CC cameras in Manuguru. A gas cutter unit owner identified the car’s photo, informing police that he had rented out the gas cutter on December 11 after those in the car said they worked on Mission Bhagiratha. The bank had been robbed on December 14.
Inspector Venkateswarlu said investigators located the owner of the vehicle, who had sold it to a second-hand vehicle dealer in Hyderabad. The dealer had, in turn, sold the vehicle to a person from Kakarala village in Badaun district of Uttar Pradesh.
Following this, seven burglars involved in the case have been nabbed at Chintoor and ₹ 3.10 lakh cash seized. Efforts are on to trace the eighth member and the remaining money. The gang selected bank branches in remote areas. It had committed such offences in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh too.
Venkateswarlu said, “CC cameras are definitely of help in nabbing criminals in a speedy manner. In this case, our Investigation picked up momentum after we located the vehicle on the CCTV camera. On an average, four of 10 cases are solved using CCTV cameras,” he stated.
