Face detection app helps police nab chain snatching trio

The accused have been identified as Baskaran (32) of Thoraipakkam, Prakash (33) and Raja (25) of Mylapore and 15 mobile phones were also seized from the trio apart from the cash. The trio were detained for questioning during the regular patrol at Shastri Nagar after they tried to escape in an auto rickshaw.

Since they gave contradictory answers about the Rs 1 lakh cash they carried, police clicked their photos in phones to verify their antecedents and found out that they were involved in a number of chain-snatching incidents. On further guestioning, they admitted to have snatched the bag with the cash from a man in Mylapore a few hours earlier. Shastri Nagar police immediately contacted Mylapore police and confirmed that a person named Balavinayagam had filed a complaint that he had lost Rs 1 lakh to three men. Balavinayagam, who runs an imitation jewellery shop in Mylapore, was returning home with the cash when he was attacked and looted by the trio. 

Balavinayagam was treated at a private hospital for minor injuries. All the three have been hand over to the Mylapore police who remanded them in judicial custody. This is the first time that face detection application for cops has come in handy to nab the repeated offenders.