Behind the scenes of crime investigation

CRACKING CRIMES, ONE PRINT AT A TIME

Late last year, as they were working on the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS) software, the officials in Madurai stumbled upon an interesting discovery: the suspect in a decade-old burglary was in custody in connection with another case. The 2012 theft had become a cold case after failing to get any viable leads except the fingerprint of an unidentified person. But now, with the advent of the tech, the officials were able to identify him to be a man from Ramanathapuram.

In another case, sub-inspectors S Vinoth and G Mazseya Arul Raj part of the Greater Chennai City Police’s fingerprint unit traced a suspect who had broken into the house of a magistrate in Kotturpuram in 2016 and decamped with 450 sovereigns. Though the prints lifted from the house could not be found in the State records then, the officials matched the prints to an accused in a north Indian State with the help of the software. Recognising their work, city police Commissioner Shankar Jiwal rewarded them at a function in February.

Meet the fingerprint bureau of the Tamil Nadu police where experts pore over crime scene inch by inch searching for prints that might help solve the riddle – even after years.

Away from the fictionalised world of crime investigation, these officials don’t indulge in risky, high-speed chases; what they chase is the curves and loops of the print left behind by suspects. They don’t break fingers, but instead study them closely. And the only time they curse or utter cusswords is when the chance prints they find at the scene are not good enough.

As J Edgar Hoover, the first director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), wrote in the introduction to the handbook for law enforcement officers of the FBI, “The background and history of the science of fingerprints constitute an eloquent drama of human lives, of good and of evil. Nothing, I think, has played a part more exciting than that enacted by the fascinating loops, whorls, and arches etched on the fingers of a human being.

“Of all the methods of identification, fingerprinting alone has proved to be both infallible and feasible. Its superiority over the older methods, such as branding, tattooing, distinctive clothing, photography, and body measurements, has been demonstrated time after time. While many cases of mistaken identification have occurred through the use of these older systems, to date the fingerprints of no two individuals have been found to be identical.”

Thanks to Hollywood and the streaming sites, many Indians know more about the FBI than our own investigative agencies and often consider it a trailblazer. However, interestingly enough, while the premier agency formed its identification division in 1924, India had a head start of more than two decades, having formed the world’s first Finger Print Bureau in 1897 with Kolkata as its base. The bureau was functioning in Madras Presidency, too, effectively making Tamil Nadu’s fingerprint bureau a century-old institution sharing the same legacy.

“Fingerprints of no two individuals are the same. I understand it’s like saying the water is wet, but it needs to be told,” says Kalai Kannagi, Additional Superintendent of Police (ADSP), echoing Edgar Hoover’s words.

After joining the bureau in 2008 along with 60 others when the then Inspector General of Police, Srilakshmi Prasad, spearheaded the recruitment to strengthen the shrinking bureau, the 54-year-old is now among the senior experts in the fingerprint bureau.

She then aspired to become a school teacher and admits to having little knowledge about the police department. But fate had different plans for her. “I was part of the Velai Illa Pattadhari Sangam (not a film reference, but an actual union of unemployed youth) then and had registered in employment exchange,” Kannagi recalls how she entered the profession.

For more than a decade since 2008, there was no addition to the squad. Then, in 2019, over 170 sub-inspectors joined the bureau. Among them was Chennai police unit’s M Kaarthic Azhagan, who recently came second in the All India Board Examination of Fingerprint Experts held in 2022.

Fingerprints are broadly classified into three categories based on their shape arch, loop and whorl - and it is by delving into this maze of lines on the fingers that the experts do their part. “There are definite characteristics to a print that an expert can identify. If a print lifted from a crime scene matches that of a suspect, we look to match at least 10 characteristics,” said an official.

When they go to a crime scene, the experts look for prints from fingers, palm and sole of the foot. What they get there is called a ‘chance print’, probably the perfect term, as getting a print that would be of use in the investigation is a sheer matter of probability. “Good prints are mostly dependent on sweat. But if the sweating is more, it leads to smudging of the print,” Kaarthic explains.

The most important aspect that decides their success rate is the preservation of the scene of crime, stress both Kannagi and Kaarthic. “That’s what we want the investigators – and the public, too – to know: Preserve a crime scene,” Kaarthic tells DT Next.

In the earlier days, the fingerprint of a suspect or the prints collected from the crime scene and recorded on what is known as a ‘search slip’ had to be manually compared with the fingerprint records of arrested criminals and convicts for a match. It is understandably a cumbersome process; an even more daunting task is comparing it with the search slips of police departments in other states.

But after the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS) software was rolled out in 2022, the job became a tad easier. Now, it is no longer possible for criminals to commit a crime and cross the State border to remain in relative safety.

Had she been a teacher, ADSP Kalai Kannagi may not have even raised her voice at a mischievous student. Now, her word can put the hardest of criminals behind bars; in some cases, for a lifetime. Now she has many, many stories to tell — of prints lifted off liquor bottles, cellophane tapes, from a partially decomposed body to name a few. Recalling her days of initial posting in Thanjavur, she remembers a petty criminal, Sony Kumar. “He would leave clear prints at all places,” she laughs.

“It’s a good job. I am happy that I am able to help and contribute to society,” the ADSP tells DT Next. She still teaches, but only police personnel. Experts from the fingerprint bureau conduct regular sessions for the law and order and crime wings on the nuances of extracting fingerprints from crime scenes, the right methodology, etc. “Save fingerprints like you save money in the bank. It will definitely help you,” Kannagi often tells her students.

HUNTERS ARMED WITH ‘CYBERNET’

Last November, the city police secured the conviction of a woman and her lover for the murder of her husband, a techie, on Tiruvanmiyur in 2018. As fascinating the story of the crime was, what was more engrossing was the manner in which the investigators went about and stitched together piece after piece of evidence.

Among the strongest evidence that the prosecution presented was the call detail records of the accused, Vinodhini and her lover Jegan, which showed that the lovers had sent more than 200 text messages to each other on the day that her husband Kathiravan was murdered; that they called each other 55 times between 9 pm and 1 am; and that they made 35 calls to each other the night before the murder. The next day, the day Kathiravan was killed, there were 16 calls made between their mobile phones, out of which 9 were made from 6.40 am to 11 am before he was attacked.

In hindsight, it was a smart piece of investigative work, which hides the dauntingly laborious task involved. Consider this: For every single bit of that evidence, the officials had to prepare the paperwork to requisition the details from the telecom service providers. And as each document gave them new information, they had to do more paperwork seeking more details from the companies. In fact, more than half of the 600-odd page charge-sheet was details of mobile phone records of the accused.

“Now, such analysis, which would have involved painstaking work by the investigating officers, would be available at a click,” said a senior officer with the Greater Chennai City Police.

Welcome to the new era of crime investigation, one where it is not the cops’ canine but the mouse that ferrets new leads. The modern-day Sherlocks would still need sharp intelligence but they now are armed with state-of-the-art technology and gadgets that help law enforcement agencies around the world to accentuate their abilities.

It was formed only a little over a year ago, but the impact of the cyber forensics lab of Greater Chennai City Police on crime detection is not lost on even old school officers.

What makes the unit special is the technology that they have access to. These tools include call detail records (CDR) analysis tool, SPECTRA (a device used for tower dump analysis), a CCTV footage-digital video recorder (DVR) analytic unit among others.

Earlier, before the lab was established, it was a tedious process to get call detail records from telecom companies to pin the presence of a possible suspect at the scene of a crime. That is not the case anymore.

Using the CDR tool, the investigators can do that and much more. It can give granular details like calls made in the morning and at night, most number of calls and time that the person made, the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) of the handset, International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), and other details. A senior police officer with the city police said the unit has so far cracked more than 80 cases using CDR analysis tools alone.

Similarly, the DVR team can help retrieve deleted footage and can also enhance and authenticate images if the CCTV footage is blurred.

The cyber forensics lab does not come into the picture only with cybercrime cases. “From tracing and tracking suspects in burglary, theft, murder cases, the cyber forensics unit mostly helps the law and order and crime units,” said a senior police official with Chennai police.

An official part of the unit told DT Next that their services were used by the Tiruvannamalai police, too, in the recent ATM heists, in which a gang from Haryana stole over Rs 70 lakhs after breaking into four ATMs. “Since 2022, our team has helped find crucial leads in more than 100 cases registered by the city police,” said the official.

At present, the cyber forensic unit has one inspector, one sub-inspector and eight police officials, supervised by an officer in the rank of Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC). Those selected are given specific training by the Cyber Security Officer to use not only the high-tech proprietary equipment and software but also open source intelligence tools.

As per directions of Chennai police Commissioner Shankar Jiwal, engineering graduates, specifically those who joined the force after majoring in computer science engineering (CSE) and electronics and communication engineering (ECE), have been handpicked to be part of the cyber forensics unit. “They are trained in using all tools by forensic trainers and subsequently in specific tools, too, to build their expertise,” an official said.

J Saroja from Tirunelveli joined the police department in 2017 as a constable and was attached to the Armed Reserve. An ECE graduate and a State-level athlete, Saroja joined the police department to secure her future. But being drafted into the cyber forensics unit has made the young policewoman be part of investigations, which she did not envision herself to be part of, at least so early in her career.

In the Armed Reserve, constables are mostly used for bandobust duties and are trained in public interactions and other practical aspects of policing, which might come into use when they become attached to police stations.

“In cyber forensic lab, it is more policing work and we become a part of investigations which gives a high. It has also opened up ideas about further studies. If I had been in AR, I would have pursued a higher degree in public administration or some such. Now, I am pursuing lots of courses related to cybercrime and have a vision on how I want my career to pan out,” Saroja told DT Next.

Addl Deputy Commissioner H Shajita, who oversees the functioning of the unit, said, “The unit is an essential part of modern-day policing. These days, crimes are either done in cyberspace or the criminals go hide in the cyberspace after committing crimes. To unravel the knots, the cyber forensic lab will become an integral part of modern day policing.”