elhi’s gangsters have the best security cameras for their homes but can manage their business without a mobile for months if it means keeping their enemies and the police at bay.
“Omission and commission of technology is effectively being used by criminals here,” says Dependra Pathak, Joint CP (South-Western Range).
A general visit to South-West Delhi’s Dichaon Kalan village, where slain ex-MLA Bharat Singh hailed from, would shock most Delhiites.
The village doesn’t have a single ATM booth or a jewellery shop, but CCTV cameras stare at you from every other house. More palatial homes are equipped with audio security devices too.
Notorious for gang-wars, it is the women members of this village who are tasked with closely monitoring the CCTV footage and immediately alerting their men upon sighting anything suspicious.
“If they see you loitering around even for a few extra seconds, the women will send their domestic help to the gates to question you,” warns a local man Sharad Singh (name changed).
Unseen eyes are kept at enemies as well as loyalists at all times, says Singh, adding CCTV footage helps judge friends and foes during times of gang wars.
Not that these CCTV cameras are always of help when a rival wants to strike hard. Only last December, six CCTV cameras installed outside a retired policeman’s house in nearby Chhawla failed to keep revenge killers away.
While some criminals rained bullets at Hari Kishan and his family members, two assailants focused their attention on removing the DVR of the CCTV cameras.
The city’s criminals also effectively use their phones to mislead the police. “Criminals have been using mobile phones to divert attention from them, to create false evidences,” says Mr. Pathak.
But he is quick to add that mobile phones have helped the police more than they have assisted these criminals.
There have also been instances in Delhi, similar to that shown in the film ‘Drishyam’, wherein gangsters — aware of the police being on their trail — have thrown their mobile phones in trucks headed to other states to mislead the police.
According to senior officers in some of these crime-prone areas, the gangsters have resorted to making calls via internet instead of phones.
“Even if they use mobile phones, they opt for the very basic ones as it leaves fewer clues for the police while tracking them,” says an officer.
The SIM cards are often purchased from far-flung states or through fake ID cards to give police a tough time to track extorters.
When notorious gangster Neeraj Bawana was arrested last year, no mobile phone was recovered from him.
“Bawana was aware of the threat a mobile phone posed to his escape,” the officer said.
