Three policemen rewarded for nabbing a gang by monitoring social media sites

V. Sivapandian, a head constable; A. Arun Pandian, Grade-I constable of Royapettah Police Station; and M. Mahesh of Ice House Police were rewarded by Commissioner of Police Shankar Jiwal for quick investigation that led to the arrest of a gang of offenders led by a 16-year-old girl indulging in serial mobile phone snatching. 

Their investigation began after complaints were lodged in two cases of phone snatchings were reported in Royapettah police station limits. On June 15 evening, a mobile phone was snatched from a woman by a biker near a school in Gopalapuram. After four days, another phone was snatched by a bike-borne duo from a 62-year-old retired government servant a few yards away from the same spot. A crime team was assigned to trace the accused and the vehicle involved.  

After scrutinising nearly 42 CCTV cameras in Gopalapuram, Conransmith Road, Peters Road and Besant Road, the team traced the registration number of the two-wheeler used by the accused from a footage near Vivekananda House. The bike was reportedly stolen and belonged to a person in Tiruttani. The team collected footage from another case of mobile phone snatching by bikers near a hospital in Abhiramapuram police station limits. However, there was no progress in the investigation. 

Another footage was recovered from a petrol bunk in Chintadripet where two persons riding a bike quarrelled with the staff of the bunk. The images taken at the petrol bunk showed the offender and the pillion rider clearly. All the clips were shared on a WhatsApp group in which special parties of police personnel are members.

At this juncture, Mahesh recalled that the minor girl was active on social media and used to upload activities with men on Instagram. He searched her profile from which he had saved similar profiles of similar offenders to track their activities. A photo which was posted on her page suggested that she was with a friend on the Marina beach. The special team’s search ended in vain and started following her profile for further clues. The girl uploaded a selfie along with four friends in a room.

A senior police officer said the special team came to the conclusion that it appeared to have been taken in a lodge. The room had a specific pattern of wall tiles and curtain. The team narrowed down its search on the lodges which charge below ₹1,000 a day per room and checked online. After elimination, they narrowed down on a lodge in Adam market, Triplicane and the curtains and wall tiles which were in the selfie of the gang matched with a room of the lodge. All the five, including the girl, were nabbed by the police.