Bihar police find it difficult to get the CCTV footage of any crime from private individuals who have installed cameras outside their houses or business establishments, leading to delay in investigation. This is also the case in the investigation of the murder of journalist Rajdeo Ranjan, as the owner of the CCTV camera installed at the fruits market, where he was gunned down on May 13, has allegedly deleted the very important footage.
A senior police official, who was posted in Siwan a few years ago, said, “The location where the incident took place is very important. The market is populated by a particular community and no outside criminal, without their knowledge, can dare commit any crime at the place.” The CCTV footage of nearly one hour is not available.
Police recently failed to recover the CCTV footage of a few places where killings took place. Two criminals gunned down police sub-inspector Suresh Thakur and snatched his service revolver on April 18 at Gorakshini under Barh police station area in Patna district. Police checked the CCTV footage of the cameras installed in Barh and Bakhtiyarpur areas. “We have gone through the CCTV footage. When Thakur reached NH-31 in Barh, the criminals shot him in his head. But the CCTV camera installed a few metres away from the spot did not have any footage of nearly one-and-a- half hours around the time of crime. We are carrying search operation in different areas near Barh and Bhaktiyarpur. The sketch of the alleged shooter was prepared on the memory of nearby shopkeepers,” Patna SSP Manu Maharaaj said.
“There are several occasions when the owners of the CCTVs refused to provide us the footage. In the case of murder of veterinary college student Rohit Kumar Kesari, the pathology laboratory owners did not provide us the CCTV footage at first. But when we recovered it, the data of a couple of days were found deleted,” he added.
Patna SSP, who has been facing difficulty in investigation due to alleged non-cooperation of private individuals, said, “Now, we are having a considerate view, but people should understand that they are committing a crime by not helping the police. If it comes to light that the footage was deliberately deleted or the camera was stopped, we can make the CCTV owners accused in the related cases,” said the SSP.
