CDR is strong ammo, realise city cops

Of late, police have been successful in cracking high-profile cases, thanks to Call Details  Record (CDR), a technology that has come in handy for investigators.

When H M Sudhindra and H S Vighnesh, of Hunsur, BBM students of Mahajana’s College here were kidnapped, the cops could initially trace their location to Kyatamaranahalli, that was later traced up to Mandya district on Mysore-Bangalore highway.

The accused in the case, who had used close to 30 SIMs, only fell prey to their own smart act. A top ranking police officer was at the helm of affairs, supervising technical details.

Earlier in the recent past, when Kushalnagar-based businessman Mohan Kumar and his son were kidnapped from Mysore, it was yet again CDR that had come to the rescue of police.

Sources told Deccan Herald, when Mohan Kumar was freed near Maddur, the kidnappers had purposefully left a SIM card with him. Using the same card, the abductors had been making ransom calls.

They preferred to abandon the card with Mohan Kumar, only to thwart police from smelling their scent. But, the investigators succeeded in collecting details of the card — from seller to buyer. Incidentally, in this case, the seller who was a retailer turned out to be an accused in the case. A total of six, most of them youngsters were booked in the case.

Apart from police teams, who were constantly on the move, a technical squad headed by a senior officer had been constituted to keep track of phone calls. Mention should be made of the dacoity incident at Vidya Vikas Institute of Engineering and Technology (VVIET) on Bannur road, a year ago. Barring finger prints collected on the spot, the police had no other clue to follow upon, to make a start.

It was again through the afore mentioned technology, the police could somehow find that a call had been made within a short radius at the midnight.

When dug further, it emerged to be a conservation between the accused who was keeping a watch outside and another who was inside the college. Whenever, the police book any theft case, especially pertaining to mobile phones, CDR has helped busting most of the cases.

Similarly N R Police had cracked a theft case, where the accused had sold a stolen handset to another. The buyer had been using the same inserting another SIM. Police knocked on the doors of cellphone user, only to tell him ‘it was a stolen device’.

Likewise there are many such cases that have been solved owing to CDR.

How does the trace work?

The city police have acquired a software to trace the callers either with the help of cellphone number or ‘International Mobile Equipment Identity’ (IMEI) number. Apart from tracking the location, it also gives details regarding call duration. Among the city police, select two to three personnel have been imparted training on using the same. District police were the first to acquire. When both city and district police were bereft of the software, they had to rely on cellular service providers for obtaining the details.