Night-vision CCTVs to be installed to curb robberies on Gurugram-Jaipur highway

Every evening, hundreds of working professionals wait for cabs or shared rides at these spots after their office hours to go towards Manesar or Delhi. The criminals have been targeting them frequently by first offering a lift and then robbing them at knife or gunpoint.

The city police have asked the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) to include six spots on Gurugram-Jaipur expressway, from where a spate of robbery cases have been reported recently, in the list of 90 areas in the city where night-vision CCTV cameras will be installed.

Hundreds of commuters towards Manesar or Delhi take cabs or shared rides from Iffco Chowk every day, making them easy target of criminals who offer them lift and then loot them. (HT File)

These six spots are located on the 13.5-km stretch of the expressway. They are: Shankar Chowk, Sector 17/18 Road, Iffco Chowk, Signature Tower, Rajiv Chowk, and Hero Honda Chowk. In the latest incident reported on January 30 — the fifth such case to be reported in the month — a man was robbed of his phone and ₹2,000 cash by four people who offered him a ride in their car when the victim was waiting near Sohna City police station.

Every evening, hundreds of working professionals wait for cabs or shared rides at these spots after their office hours to go towards Manesar or Delhi. The criminals, a gang of four — in most cases reported so far, has been targeting them frequently. The modus operandi is simple: offer a ride in a shared cab at a low fare, ride with the victim for some distance and then rob him at knife or gunpoint.

Investigators said the criminals also target these spots since they find it easy flee from here. As per the latest data, at least eight such incidents have been reported this year from this stretch, they said.

The spate of incidents has now forced the police to ask GMDA to include these crime-prone areas into a list of 90 where it want night-vision CCTVS to be installed. The police had identified nearly 350 junctions across the city for surveillance. Of these 90 were chosen for night-vision CCTVS, said GMDA officials. They said at least 1,000 cameras will be installed across Gurugram.

In the first phase of the project, which will be finished by June, the agency is laying a 600-km fibre optics network, GMDA officials said. The work will be taken up on priority at the six spots on the Jaipur expressway, they said.

Police said the cameras will be installed on both sides of the roads to capture images of all the vehicles crossing the stretch. According to police, in most of the cases the criminals go round the expressway where people fall prey to them.

Police said they discussed the locations with GMDA, giving priority to areas where surveillance was urgently required . They said the camera footage will help investigators get crucial leads in cases of criminals posing as cab drivers and offering lifts to passengers only to rob them.

Police commissioner K K Rao said that his force is collaborating with civic and development agencies such as GMDA and Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) to fight crime.

“All the victims were targeted on this stretch and in most of the cases they did not remember the car registration number. The cars were not captured in the surveillance system due to which the crime teams had to face difficulties in identifying the people involved in the cases,” said Rao.

He said besides number plate detection technology, the cameras will have intelligent video analytics to provide detailed surveillance.

Dr Sultan Singh, head of the Geographic Information System (GIS) at GMDA, and a senior scientist at the Haryana Space Applications Centre (Harsac), said the Integrated Command Control Centre (ICCC) is one of the most important initiatives which will equip the GMDA with a single dashboard to manage infrastructure development growth in the city.

“The tenders are underway and the work will begin soon. Once all the CCTV cameras are installed, it will be monitored from the centralized control room and feed related to crime will be sent to the city police,” said Singh. He also said that the system will fall in place by June.

The police commissioner said his force will also crime data with the GIS lab to enable measures for curbing crime.

“The data will include the spots where snatching are reported, details of the crime pattern, history of each offender, the case status and whether the person is out on bail or on parole,” Rao said.