Agra: Forget old-fashioned paper files. Agra police are now turning to a criminal database app to nab criminals. Last week, police used the Pehchan app to catch a serial burglar from Hathras, Kuldeep Sharma, after CCTV footage showed him looting a house in Rohta area, Sadar Assistant Commissioner of Police Sukanya Sharma told the media.
The footage showed him casing the house twice a day before he broke into the property at night. He broke open a cupboard locker and stole jewellery and cash worth lakhs.
Police ran the footage through the app and his entire profile was revealed—name, address, old criminal cases, bail status and information about the areas where he was found to be active. Using the app for information about his location and possible hideouts, police cornered Kuldeep in Rohta Saturday night.
Seeing himself surrounded, he opened fire on the police. Shot in the leg in retaliatory firing, he was caught on the spot and jewellery worth lakhs was also recovered.
He told police he had buried the stolen goods in a field behind the house. He said he wanted to give the jewellery to his sister, who was getting married in two days.
Police have also identified Kuldeep’s partner, Sachin Sharma, who is still absconding.
“The app is a great success in crime control and tracking known criminals,” ACP Sharma said.
Kuldeep already has three cases of theft registered against him. He had earlier targeted other closed houses in Agra’s Tajganj and Sadar areas. Sharma said that Kuldeep had also gone to jail in 2023 in a theft case pertaining to a case from Tajganj.
The Pehchan app is an important tool for digital profiling for Uttar Pradesh Police. Complete information from the name and address of criminals to their crime, bail details, partners and bailors is available on this app. This app was formally launched by Muzaffarnagar Police in 2024, but the process to create it was initiated in 2021 by then ADG (Agra Zone) Rajiv Krishna as ‘Zone Agra Police App’ under ‘Operation Pehchan’. Today, this app is active in Agra, Mathura, Firozabad, Aligarh, Hathras, Etah and Kasganj districts. Data of 1.30 lakh Agra zone criminals has been fed into the app, of which 25,000 are from Agra district.
A category-wise list of criminals is available on the app for policemen at every level. Beat constables on the spot can verify details and feed information into the app. As soon as a name and address are entered in the search, the record of arrest, bail and whereabouts of the accused come up. Real-time field input makes it easy to keep tabs the accused.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)