Karol Bagh police have cracked a Rs 42.39 lakh theft from a mobile wholesale shop in Bank Street by using advanced facial identification tools to link suspects captured in grainy CCTV footage with real identities. The breakthrough exposed an insider role, led to the arrest of a 23-year-old employee and resulted in the recovery of Rs 13.5 lakh.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Nidhin Valsan said the use of the C-Trace and C-Boat facial-matching system helped investigators match CCTV faces with possible profiles during the early stages of the probe. He said the facial recognition hits guided the team toward one employee whose links with the suspects later became clear through technical data and call records.
The incident was reported through an e-FIR on November 5. The complainant said he had closed his shop at Gold Plaza on November 4. When staff arrived the next morning, they found a rear window broken. Cash worth Rs 42,39,400 was missing. CCTV footage showed four unidentified men entering the shop at 2.15 am and leaving around 2.50 am.
A police team examined the footage frame by frame. The men were tracked up to Kamal T-Point through an auto-rickshaw whose number plate could not be read. Reverse-tracking showed the group arriving earlier in an e-rickshaw and getting down near Om Bhature at 11.20 pm after travelling through Vishnu Mandir Marg. Technical analysis placed their movement from Ashok Vihar to Shastri Nagar and then toward the shop.
Alongside this, investigators questioned employees and checked their call detail records. The CCTV faces were fed into the FRS. C-Trace and C-Boat returned hints suggesting possible matches. These matches aligned with call data that showed regular contact between employee Suraj and the suspected offenders on the night of the crime.
Based on this combined evidence, police identified the suspects as Rishabh, Avinash, Abhishek and Anil, all residents of Shahjahanpur. Suraj emerged as the link. Two police teams were formed. One team picked up Suraj from Mukundpur and recovered Rs 13.5 lakh in cash. The second team went to Shahjahanpur, but the four accused had already fled.
During questioning, Suraj confessed. He told investigators he knew about the large amount of cash stored at the shop and shared this information with his associates out of greed. The four then carried out the break-in and escaped. Police said he admitted to coordinating with them before and after the theft.
Search operations and technical surveillance continue in Delhi and nearby states to trace the absconding accused. Investigators said movement patterns picked up during the first leg of the probe are helping them narrow down possible hideouts.
Police said the case highlights how layered analysis of CCTV footage, route reconstruction and facial recognition tools can speed up investigations. Officers said the break in the case came from linking digital matches with physical trails and call records. Suraj has been arrested, and the recovered amount has been seized. The search for the remaining four are underway.