With hazy CCTV proof, woman taps social media to identify her robber

As cops ascertain the identity of the man, the situation has shed light on lack of high-quality camera footage across city

A 31-year-old woman, who was riding a two-wheeler, was robbed of her bag — containing valuables — near Railway station on February 5. When she approached the cops, they sought the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage. Its hazy nature made it difficult for them to identify the accused, thus prolonging the case. However, the woman decided to hunt down the robber by raising an alert on social media. Her trick worked.

Puja Sharma, a resident of Undri who works as deputy manager for Whirlpool, was moving towards Camp from Maldhakka Chowk around 3 pm, when she realised that a man was following her. In the pursuit, he tried to accost her, at the end of which he pushed her bag off the vehicle’s footrest in an area where cameras were not present. Nonetheless, his movements were captured in the CCTV a little ahead.

“The cops from the Bund Garden police station weren’t very helpful. They registered an FIR after five days. After we checked the CCTV footage, we could see the man’s face, his vehicle, but the registration number appeared hazy. Therefore, the cops concluded that it will be difficult to trace him,” she said.

Given the gravity of the situation, she relayed the information of her circumstances on various WhatsApp and Facebook groups. As it turned out, one of the acquaintances informed her that she had seen the man and extended his details. The man in question is Samadhan Pawar, a resident of Fatima Nagar. She has now asked the cops to take the matter ahead. They are in the process of confirming if it is the same man. They are yet to make the arrest.

“The blurred number plate was a major setback for us. We need highquality images, even during the night. We face such troubles in every case that requires CCTV footage,” said Bund Garden police station’s senior police inspector, Shrikant Shinde.

The cops have also stated that the CCTV footage and images not only help them track a culprit but also prove to be very powerful evidence for a court case. Speaking to Mirror about the cameras and the state that they currently are in, police commissioner K Venkatesham said, “It is true; it is difficult to track down accused in the cases due to the quality of the CCTV cameras. They were installed in 2014 and have mere two megapixel capacity.”

The cops are working with the Smart City Corp to build a network of 44,000 cameras across the city. These cameras are expected to be of a higher quality and those that will capture the content even during night time. The cameras seem be the need of the hour, owing to a rise in complaints over last two months, most of which are unresolved.

A testament of such an unresolved crime was given by Namita Bhalerao, a resident of Kumar Parisar, Mahatma Society. “I have been a victim of chain snatching. It has scarred me for life. I was on my way for the usual evening walk when two men on a scooty snatched my mangalsutra and speeded away. I didn’t have the chance to even look at their faces; I was thrown on the ground and suffered a bad bruise on the neck,” she said