Video of stolen vehicle gets ‘auto-deleted’

Islamabad Safe City Project in-charge says footages are never deleted

Islamabad

The much-touted Islamabad Safe City Project is no more safe, as wealthy and resourceful criminals can easily make away with vehicles in collusion with some officials of the department leaving no traces behind.

According to details, Malik Arshad Mehmood Awan, a resident of Taxila, parked his Mitsubishi Shogan jeep (AJKC-7088) at the I-11 Graveyard on Oct 5 to attend the burial ceremony of his nephew.

While the funeral prayers were in progress, someone made away with the jeep.

The incident was immediately reported to the SHO Sabzi Mandi Police Station but the FIR was not registered for almost two weeks.

Feeling no relief, SSP Operations Sajid Kayani was approached, who directed registration of the FIR.

The investigating officer, an ASI, registered the FIR (352/16 Police Station Sabzi Mandi) on October 22. However, he did not conduct raids to recover the vehicle.

When the complainant asked the IO to accompany him to the office of Safe City Project to get the video footage, he asked him to meet Mr. Zahid.

The complainant visited the Safe City Project office on October 26. Mr. Zahid showed him the footages captured by the CCTV cameras installed at the G-11 Mor on the Kashmir Highway and at Dhokri Chowk.

The video footages showed Mr. Arshad arriving at the graveyard to inspect the burial arrangements and leaving the premises. He was again shown arriving at the graveyard to attend the burial ceremony.

While the footage was on, Mr. Arshad saw his vehicle being taken away by someone at the G-11 Mor, but then a senior officer asked Zahid to stop it.

Mr. Arshad demanded a copy of the footage but he was asked to revisit the office along with the IO concerned to get it. He got back disappointed, asking Zahid to save the footage. The very next day Mr. Zahid was transferred.

The complainant requested the IO to accompany him to the Safe City office but he hesitated and doubted that the vehicle had even been stolen.

Owing to the IO’s non-cooperation, an application was furnished with the SSP’s office on November 7 for transfer of the case to the Anti Car Lifting Cell (ACLC).

On November 12, a letter from the SSP’s office came to the ACLC.

The new IO Mr. Waheed visited the Safe City Project office and got the footage saved.

Since Mr Waheed was deputed at an Imambargah, he sent an official of the ACLC to the Safe City Project office on November 23 along with the complainant.

However, he was not allowed to enter the hall. Two officials told Mr. Arshad point-blank that since he had already seen the footage he could not see it anymore.

IO Mr. Waheed, Mr Arshad and Mr. Mehmood visited the Safe City Project office again on Nov 24. An official led them to a computer and showed them just three pictures showing arrival but intriguingly there was no record of the exit of the vehicle.

When Mr. Arshad told the official that he had seen the jeep on the CCTV camera installed at the G-11 Chowk fast heading towards the west and insisted on seeing the entire footage again, he was told that the system auto-deletes the footage after one month.

He had nothing in defence when the complainant asked him why the footage was not saved when he had first visited the office on October 26 and the officers concerned were fully in picture that the FIR had been filed.

The official led the three to another computer but again showing the same three pictures.

Then the official fed the jeep registration number to the computer and time between 4:30pm to 6:30 pm. A total of 13 footages taken from different cameras appeared on the screen but again of no use.

When the complainant asked him to switch on the G-11 Mor camera, he was told that it was not working on that day despite that Mr. Zahid had showed him the vehicle on the same camera speeding out of the capital.

Then an officer of ASI rank told Mr. Arshad that two different types of cameras installed side by side at different locations could not read white registration number against the black background at the night.

He assumed that the digits on the registration plate might have been too small for the CCTV cameras to read.

When told that the digits were large enough to read, he asked the official to zoom in on one of the three pictures.

The digits were clearly readable on zooming. Mr Arshad told the ASI that if the number could not be read clearly at night then at least the huge vehicle could be easily identified while leaving the capital.

As the discussion continued, an official suggested that the thief might have waited for the night to fall or used some “chore raasta” to make away with the car as the CCTV cameras could not read the registration number at night.

He was told that there was no “chore raasta” in the area and CCTV cameras were monitoring all roads.

Three pictures were shown to the IO and he was told that the same would be furnished with the court on orders.

The News talked to In Charge Safe City Project ASP Mr. Hassam over phone on November 30 and explained to him the entire situation.

Mr. Hassam confirmed that videos were never deleted. During a meeting with him at his I-10 office on December 13, he again confirmed that videos were never deleted.

When the ASP was told that the complainant had seen the footage showing his jeep being taken out of the capital, he talked to Mr. Zahid and IO Sohaib Pasha.

Mr. Hassam asked ASI Sohaib Pasha as to why he had not got the footage saved and reprimanded him for this serious lapse, benefiting the thief.

He also talked to Mr. Zahid over phone. After the phone was over, Mr. Hassam told this correspondent that just three pictures of the stolen jeep (showing arrival) had been saved.

The complainant has appealed to the Interior Minister Ch Nisar Ali Khan and the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take notice of the injustice meted out to him and fix responsibility.

In this regard when a senior police officer was contacted he while requesting anonymity confirmed that the videos of the cameras only remain with them for first 30 days. He however added that in the particular case the complainant party already had a case pending in the court against the accused. He added that there was no record of the theft of car. He said that a summary has already been sent to the relevant authorities for fixing the issue.