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8 cops, 150 CCTV footages: How man who stole ₹1.5-L bicycle was caught
The bicycle was stolen around midnight on February 13 from the porch of a house on Vikramaditya Marg; the complainant, a PAC inspector, lodged an FIR the next day
LUCKNOW What began as theft of a premium ₹1.5-lakh bicycle from the house of a PAC inspector turned into an extensive digital trail for the Lucknow Police, with a team comprising eight cops scanning nearly 150 CCTV footages across central Lucknow’s VIP area before zeroing in on the accused.
The stolen ‘Trek Ranger’ cycle was eventually recovered and a 30-year-old man arrested, police said on Monday, adding that the accused was a seasoned thief and had been inside jail for two years in the past in Lucknow and his hometown Hardoi.
The bicycle was stolen around midnight on February 13 from the porch of a house on Vikramaditya Marg. “The complainant, Arun Kumar Dubey, a PAC inspector lodged an FIR the next day after discovering that his high-end ‘Trek Ranger’ cycle was missing from his home on Vikramadaitya Marg,” the Gautampalli police stated in a release.
The said locality, dotted by residences of political leaders and VVIPs, is a high security zone with with CCTV cameras all around.
Given the value of the bicycle, investigators launched an extensive probe, mapping possible exit routes from the locality and collecting footage from residential and commercial CCTV cameras.
Ratnesh Singh, SHO, Gautampalli police station, said: “Around 150 cameras were scanned to track the suspect’s movement across multiple points in the city.”
“Using a combination of CCTV analysis and technical surveillance, the team traced the accused Suraj, 30, a resident of Hardoi. The stolen bicycle was recovered from his possession and additional charges under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita were invoked following the recovery,” the SHO added. He informed that the accused had previous cases registered against him, including under the Arms Act and theft-related offences.
