Delhi hit and run case: How cops joined the dots, tracked accused in 3 hours

NEW DELHI: The Baleno that allegedly dragged a 20-year-old woman in Kanjhawala was captured on two automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, which helped police track down the five occupants of the car within three hours of the body being found, sources said.
The recovery of the body on the intervening night of December 31-January 1 had left the cops of two districts, Rohini and outer, in a tizzy. It started with a PCR call received at 2.22am regarding a Baleno having fled after an accident. A second call was regarding the accident of a scooter. A call at 3.24am informed about a body being dragged under a grey Baleno and going towards Qutubgarh. At 4.11am, another call was received regarding the body of a woman lying on the road near Jonty village.

Special commissioner Dependra Pathak immediately formed four teams, each headed by an ACP, having separate tasks. The DCPs of Rohini and outer districts were asked to coordinate with these teams.

"While the team under ACP (operation) was tasked to analyse the footage from every camera in the area, ACP (Prashant Vihar) was asked to identify, locate and detain the car and its owner. Another ACP (Begampur) was assigned for scene of crime and evidence management, apart from connecting with callers. The fourth team under ACP (Rohini) was handling the hospital, victim's family and MLC and other documentation," said an official.

Although the car was spotted on various CCTV cameras, darkness and fog made reading its registration plate difficult.

Cops were also sent to connect with picket and patrolling staff to ascertain if any rashly driven car had passed through the area. The car was found to have taken 12 rounds of the stretch, on the carriageway opposite pickets, at a moderate speed of 40-50 kmph.

Meanwhile, ACP Begampur's team obtained and enlarged the footage of one of the two ANPR cameras at Punjab Khurd, which led to identification of the car with the registration DL8C**6414.
The owner, Lokesh, was located and the SHO of Vijay Vihar was rushed to detain him. When Lokesh was questioned, he revealed he had given the car to his relative, Ashutosh. Ashutosh had given the car to his friends Amit and Deepak. Police teams, accompanied by Lokesh and Ashutosh, conducted coordinated raids and nabbed the accused one by one. The case was then handed over to Sultanpuri cops for further investigation.

Police commissioner Sanjay Arora and Pathak were monitoring every development in the case. When contacted, Pathak said Delhi Police had acted promptly.
"Our teams located and seized the vehicle in the fastest possible time using scientific methods and technology by assigning segmented jobs to individual teams. A professional investigation has been conducted," he added.
Meanwhile, acting on orders from the ministry of home affairs, special commissioner Shalini Singh visited the accident site on Monday night and took stock of the investigation. A delegation of AAP MLAs also met the police commissioner on Tuesday and demanded action against police officials of the area.