Technology helped nab kidnappers

Gaurav Talwar

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Tribune News Service

Dehradun, December 2

Technology and coordination between different agencies that aided the Dehradun police and the Special Task Force (STF) helped in cracking the kidnapping case of 17-year-old Harshit Tayal within 36-hours of the incident.

In a joint operation, Dehradun police and STF nabbed five kidnappers, including a 23-year-old woman from Jagjitpur area in Haridwar district yesterday.

The police team tracked the movements of the kidnappers by mounting technical surveillance and using modern technologies.

“We used technical surveillance for nabbing the kidnappers. This case is an example of how modern technology and close coordination help the police in cracking difficult cases like abduction,” said Sanjay Gunjyal, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Garhwal Range.

In order to ensure better coordination and sharing information amongst the police teams, consisting 40 members, a special group on WhatsApp mobile application was formed on Saturday.

“Everyone in the group, including the senior police officials and constables were posting details about the movement of the kidnappers to keep each other updated,” said Ajay Rautela, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Dehradun.

Interestingly, Harshit Tayal’s parents were not aware that they too were under police surveillance for two days and their movement was being tracked by the police teams.

“It is true that the mobile phones of the family members were also under surveillance and our technical teams were keeping a close tab on their movements,” said Gunjyal.

It is to be noted that the police teams were following Harshit’s father, Girish Kumar Tayal’s, movement after he boarded the Lahori Express train from Dehradun on Sunday evening. Tayal was asked by the kidnappers to board the train and drop the ransom money near Raiwala railway crossing.

Senior STF personnel told The Tribune that a team of police personnel also boarded the train and were constantly in touch with the other team members, who were equipped with night vision devices. They were hiding in the forest area to keep a tab on the movement of the kidnappers who were instructing Tayal regarding the place where he was suppose to drop the suitcase filled with ransom money.

“The kidnappers were using new SIM card every time to call the family members for ransom. But, we managed to trace their location through our surveillance mechanism on the first day. We were waiting for the safe release of Harshit before we could start our operation to nab the abductors,” said Gunjyal.

Sadanand Date, SSP, STF, said: “Through the technology available with us, we tracked their locations in two days and passed it to the team members for further action in the operation.”