Lucknow Police to keep tab on auto-thieves through SMS

Lucknow cops have come up with a hi-tech idea — SMS alert system — to catch people riding a stolen vehicle or having a fake registration number.

City cops have come up with a hi-tech idea — SMS alert system — to catch people riding a stolen vehicle or having a fake registration number.

HT Image

Now, it won’t be easy for such people to get away by telling lie or showing fake registration papers during vehicle checking drives. How? Within a few minutes, cops will get all details regarding the vehicles and its owners only by messaging the registration number to a particular 10-digit mobile-like number.

“The facility is only meant for the police to help them in their investigation and vehicle-checking drives. Public cannot use this facility as it could be misused. People approach the police and get details,” said Rajeev Krishna, Lucknow DIG of Police.

He said the service is already functional since the last few weeks and it is helping cops in several ways. He said they could crosscheck details of vehicles and its owners from the rider during checking drives after getting its details through the alert service.

He said the alert provides details about vehicle owners, their addresses and the date of purchase. Besides, the details regarding vehicles’ chassis numbers, their model and design would also be available through this service. This would help cops nab chain and purse-snatchers and other anti-social elements riding vehicles bearing fake registration numbers.

“Other than this, the cops would get immediate details while investigating cases of road accidents and road rage. They could also utilise the service to get details while investigating other crime in which a particular vehicle is used,” Krishna said.