NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police has used artificial intelligence tools to enhance blurred CCTV footage to solve the murder of a woman in the Shalimar Bagh, leading to the identification and arrest of three men, officials said.
In an attempt to evade arrest, the accused were continuously changing their hideouts and using the Zangi app to communicate with each other. They were also frequently changing their mobile phone numbers, police said.
The accused have been identified as Nikhil and Sumit, residents of Haryana, and Bharat Yadav, a resident of Delhi. Bharat had already been declared a proclaimed offender in an earlier murder case of Bijender Yadav, who was the husband of the deceased, Rachna Yadav, police said.
Investigators initially faced difficulties as the CCTV footage available from the crime scene and nearby areas was of poor quality. “AI technology was used to enhance the quality of the CCTV footage. Multiple AI-based applications helped obtain clearer images of the shooters, which led to the identification of one of the accused as Nikhil,” a senior police officer said.
Rachna was shot dead near her house on January 10. Around 11 am that day, a PCR call was received at Shalimar Bagh police station reporting that a woman had been shot by an unknown person near Gate No. 4, BC Block, East Shalimar Bagh. When police reached the spot, they found the woman’s body lying there. There was profuse bleeding from her head, and a bullet injury mark was visible on her forehead. The deceased was identified as Rachna Yadav, wife of late Bijender Yadav and a resident of Shalimar Bagh.
During the investigation, it was revealed that a long-standing dispute had been ongoing between Bijender on one side and Bharat Yadav along with his associates on the other, over a 250-square-yard plot located on the road from Swaroop Nagar to Burari. Due to the property dispute, both parties had repeatedly issued threats to each other, an officer said.
Police examined CCTV footage from the spot and adjoining areas and noticed two persons riding a motorcycle near the crime scene. Photographs of the suspects were developed, and one of the accused was identified as Nikhil. Multiple raids were conducted in Punjab, Haryana, western UP, eastern UP, Uttarakhand and Bihar.
The accused was traced to the Katihar area of Bihar and later apprehended from a hut located in a forest area. It was revealed that co-accused Sumit had driven the motorcycle during the commission of the offence, following which he was also arrested from his village.
Nikhil revealed that a few days prior to the incident, he was contacted by Bharat Yadav, who is an accused in the murder case of Bijender. He informed Nikhil that Rachna was a material prosecution witness in the case and was actively following up on the trial in court, the officer said.