A habitual offender was arrested on Saturday for giving stupefying drugs to a old woman and decamping with the gold ornaments she was wearing at Ganapavaram village, near Tripurantakam in the Prakasam district.
The offender, Devarapalli Srinu, belonging to Chilakaluripeta in Guntur district, was nabbed near a police check post in the district. Google Maps timeline came in handy for the police to track his movement.
The police could also establish his involvement in several other cases thanks to a mobile app ‘Court Checker’, the largest repository of court cases in the country. The app contains records of inter-State criminals and is updated on a daily basis. All one has to do is type the name and address and all the cases that the person is involved in would be obtained within a few seconds.
“We are in Information age. Right data base search will prove helpful in cracking the cases,” Superintendent of Police Siddharth Kaushal explained to the officers at a capacity-building programme, asking them to make better use of the technology.
Training for personnel
“In many cases, investigation closes with no lead to identify and establish the perpetrators, as well as the victims. By accessing the right portal, breakthrough could be achieved quickly,” the SP said, while enlightening the listeners on portals ‘Enterprise ecops’, ‘e-prison search’, ‘3rd eye’, ‘E-challan’ all of which provide vital information relating to criminals.
The Praja Sadhikara Survey conducted by the government also provided vital information about a person, his family members, mobile number, Aadhaar card and welfare schemes benefits accessed by him.
The police personnel were being given training to effectively use the IT tools for tracing an offender, missing persons, unknown bodies in lesser time
