Murder to assault: ‘Third eye’ helps Lucknow cops crack over 3,000 cases

Surveillance footage under Smart City project provided leads for 3,110 cases, including the recent murder of an IAS officer’s wife

LUCKNOW CCTV-based surveillance under the Smart City project has turned out to be a boon in helping the police solve many crime cases, which otherwise would have been difficult to crack. Cameras installed at strategic locations provided significant leads and played a key role in over 3,000 cases, including the sensational murder of a retired IAS officer’s wife on Saturday.

A newly developed Safe City Control Centre at Lucknow Smart City office for surveillance. (Sourced)

According to data shared by the Lucknow Municipal Corporation’s Smart City project, high-tech cameras installed across the city have helped solve 3,110 cases between January 2022 and April 2024.

On Tuesday, the police worked out the murder of Mohini Dubey, 58, wife of retired IAS Devendranath Dubey, at her home in Indira Nagar, after the arrest of three people, including two trusted drivers and a house help. As the accused had decamped with the CCTV DVR installed at the house, scanning of over 350 cameras installed at different places in the vicinity helped cops trace the accused within 72 hours of the incident.

“The Smart City Control Room has solved many cases including those of robbery, accidents, snatching among others. This unit works silently and keeps surveillance over the entire city,” said municipal commissioner Indrajeet Singh, giving a tour of the Smart City office and a newly opened Safe City Control Centre, which is functional but yet to be formally inaugurated.

“The control centre’s nodal agency is Smart City, which aims at bolstering women’s safety. It is set up from the ‘Nirbhaya fund,’ said Ankit Sharma, project manager of Allied Digital Services Ltd and in-charge of the centre.

ABOUT AI-BASED VIGIL

The Safe City Control centre cameras are Artificial Intelligence equipped and situated at several points across the city. “If the police provide us with any picture, and once fed into our system, it can track down the person, if found, and give an alert,” said Sharma.

“These cameras are also capable of detecting instances of women harassment and any other nuisance. Even in case of fight or suspicious activity, these cameras will capture them and alert us. The input will then be sent to 1090 (police) for action,” he explained.

RECENT CASES WHERE CAMS SOLVED CASES

In the retired IAS officer wife’s murder, the incident took place on Saturday. The police started scanning CCTV footages and traced the accused by Sunday and arrested them on Tuesday.

On Monday, a purported video of a man said to be an international-level shooting athlete went viral wherein he was seen assaulting a taxi driver with a pistol butt. The incident happened in the afternoon and the police arrested the man by evening using CCTV footage.

In February, a businessman, Prateek Jaisawal, crushed two people to death with his speeding car and fled from the scene in Mahanagar. The police were able to trace the man using CCTV cameras.

CAM STATS IN CITY

1000 Safe City Control centre cameras at 200 locations. Among these, 800 are IP fix cameras and 200 pan tilt zoom cameras.

3000 cameras under Smart City

75,000 private cameras in the city

THEY PLAYED KEY ROLE IN THESE CASES

Year 2022

Theft cases................................................................................185

Missing (person/bag/phone/document/other stuff......................145

Crime (fraud/kidnapping/stunt............................... 152

Robbery/snatching.............................................................. 94

Accident.............................................................................. 116

Total cases........................................................................... 692

Year 2023

Theft (vehicle/phone/other stuff) ................................................ 326

Missing (person/bag/phone/document/other stuff) ......................381

Missing (person/bag) ............................................................82

Crime ..................................................................................60

Misbehaviour..........................................................................05

Related to investigation........................................................290

Fraud...................................................................................67

Stunt....................................................................................04

Robbery/snatching..............................................................156

Accident..............................................................................197

Total cases...........................................................................1568

Year 2024 (till April)

Theft cases (vehicle/other stuff) ................................................ 150

Missing (bag/phone/document/other stuff) ........................175

Missing (person/kidnapping) ........................................ 33

Crime ..........................................................................13

Investigation (application).............................................171

Fraud..............................................................................21

Robbery/ snatching..........................................................31

Accident..........................................................................70

Total cases......................................................................664