look news india
Those who enter the world of crime often believe that if they throw away the SIM card of their mobile phone, change their attire and hide in an unknown city hundreds of miles away, then the long arm of the law will never reach them. But in this modern era of digital technology, cyber forensics and ground informant system, no matter how clever the criminal is, some digital footprint is left behind. The case of Shraddha Dubey is also similar, who had woven a web like a film script to throw dust in the eyes of the police and investigating agencies. Despite a tiring journey of about 2200 kilometers, resorting to burqa to hide her identity and using hotspots and mobile phones of strangers on the way to avoid surveillance, she could not penetrate the technical maze laid by the police and ultimately ended up behind the bars.
When the police investigation intensified after the incident, Shraddha was well aware that her name and face had come on the radar of the investigating agencies. Fearing arrest, she planned to leave the city and started wearing a burqa to completely hide her identity. During the journey, he took public buses, ordinary trains and local taxis so that his name could not be recorded in the reservation charts or official identity cards. Crossing the borders from one state to another, he covered a distance of more than 2200 kilometers. On the way, she stopped at crowded railway stations, bus stands and cheap lodges where there was little surveillance by CCTV cameras or where accommodation was available without a valid ID card. He kept a mask on his face all the time so that no local person or patrolling policeman could identify him.
Shraddha Dubey knew that in today’s era, to reach any accused, the police first tracks the CDR (Call Detail Record) and IMEI number of his mobile number. Therefore, on the very first day of the Ferrari, he broke his personal SIM card and threw it away and switched off his smartphone completely. But while hiding outside, he was in dire need of internet to know about his close ones, helpers and legal updates related to the case. For this he came up with a very clever method. She innocently asked for help from unknown passengers and common people standing at railway stations, bus stops or tea-snack shops. Sometimes, to talk to family members, sometimes on the pretext of urgent work, she would ask for hotspot from their mobile phone or use their internet for a few minutes. Once connected to the internet, she would only communicate with her contacts through encrypted messaging apps or temporary social media handles and would immediately delete the chat history.
This trick of Shraddha worked for a few days, but the Cyber Cell and Special Task Force teams were continuously working on ‘pattern analysis’. The police had an inkling that the accused could not remain completely offline and would definitely try to contact her network through some means or the other. Technical experts had laid digital traps on his old social media profiles, cloud backups and accounts of close contacts. As soon as Shraddha connected to an unknown person’s Wi-Fi network and logged in to her old secure account for a few seconds, an alert was generated on the server. The cyber team immediately pinpointed that IP address and the location of the mobile tower associated with it. Although that internet session was of just a few minutes, the police had understood the area and city where she was present at that time.
As soon as the exact location and extent of the area became clear, the local police and surveillance team increased patrolling in plain clothes in that area. Informers were alerted and footage from all CCTV cameras around the recently activated network was scrutinized. In the footage, a suspicious woman in a burqa was seen continuously bowing her head and asking for phones from strangers. After matching the height, walking style and handprints, the police’s suspicion turned into confidence. Without giving any opportunity, the police team surrounded the lodge and the area where she was staying. When the female policemen surrounded her and asked her to remove her burqa, she lost her senses. All the cunningness of Shraddha Dubey, who considered herself clever after traveling a distance of 2200 kilometers, was ruined. During interrogation, he confessed that he had tried everything possible to escape from the police, but none of his tricks could succeed before the scientific and technical scrutiny of the law.