Meticulous investigation involving the use of scientific tools to crack a hit and run case involving a KSRTC bus, fetched the first prize for Bagayam police inspector V Raja at the recent Tamil Nadu State Police Duty Meet held in Chennai.
Raja had launched an investigation into a hit and run case, which claimed the life of Kumar (30) of Budur village. The accident took place past 11 pm on January 13 this year and the case was reported the next day.
On reaching the spot, Raja, the investigation officer of the case, collected the paint fluxes and broken pieces of the headlight doom from the accident spot near the Golden Temple at Ariyur.
“After collecting the evidence from the accident spot, I sent them to the forensic laboratory in Chennai along with a set of questionnaires to find out the paint fabrics, texture and layer of the paint fluxes,” he said.
Simultaneously, Raja collected details of tourist buses to the Golden Temple and also checked the CCTV footage of vehicles passing through the toll plaza at Pallikonda.
“We found a Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus with a broken headlight doom on the right side of the vehicle, in the camera footage. The bus had crossed the Pallikonda toll plaza at 11.32 pm on that day,” Raja added.
“This particular bus had entered the State 10 days before the accident. The video footage from the surveillance camera showed no dent or scratch in the front portion of the bus,” said Inspector Raja.
The Inspector and his team then nabbed the driver, Krishnappa (37), within 10 days of the accident.
The police team then collected paint fluxes from the left side of the bus and sent it to the forensics lab for analysis along with the first batch of evidence. “I sent the second batch of evidence after getting permission from the court,” Raja said.
The results from the lab showed that the first and second batch of evidence (paint fluxes) were of the same texture and layer. “The report had clearly indicated that both were the same. This solid evidence helped nab the accused,” the police officer said.
Raja and K Pari, the Assistant Director of Forensics Wing, Vellore, received a cash prize Rs 15,000 and a certificate from Chennai City Police Commissioner S George, during the State meet held in Chennai on Saturday.