AHMEDABAD: A woman recently walked into the Ahmedabad police's crime branch headquarters to complain about some plainclothes cops who were blackmailing her after catching her in a compromising position with her boyfriend. She had already given them gold ornaments worth Rs 50,000. Officials smelt a rat and zeroed in on fraudsters known to pose as policemen in Odhav, the area where the woman lived. The men were caught and the ornaments returned.
The speedy detection was possible because of software developed by a police constable who has not even graduated and holds a diploma in - of all things - diesel engine mechanics. Dilip Thakor, 37, has developed 'Pinak' - a search engine tailor-made to combat crime. All the cops did was type in 'Odhav' and 'fake police'. Pinak immediately threw up a long list of suspects and the woman easily picked out the culprits.
The prolific constable has developed almost a dozen software that have helped detect at least 200 crimes so far. However, only four or five of his applications are in the public domain. The rest are classified and have been used to track among others hardened terrorists. Not surprisingly, Thakor's bosses are all praise for him. "We would have paid huge amounts to get the same software from private firms. But he has made our job easy," says additional director general of police, Ashish Bhatia.
Interestingly, Thakor was not even interested in computers when he was first introduced to the world of digital code. The son of a retired police constable, he was deputed at the armoury in Mehsana in 1998. "The then superintendent of police was surprised by my concentration," he recalls. "He told me to become proficient in computers."
Thakor took the advice to heart and soon specialized in developing applications that could help his fellow-policemen do their job better. For instance, 'Pinak' contains records of 32,000 history-sheeters in Ahmedabad and is being constantly updated. Another of his brainchild 'Amarbail' tracks criminals out on bail while 'Eklavya' contains details of eight lakh vehicles in Ahmedabad which makes the task of recovering stolen vehicles easier.
Considering his penchant for software development, would he consider taking it up as a full-time career? "Not really," he says with a shy smile. "Policing is in my genes."
Software objective
Pinak: Collation of details about history-sheeters — helps in crime detection and prevention
Eklavya: Vehicle registration and details about owners
Amarbail: Details about court cases and legal status of criminals active in Gujarat
Saarthi: Licence numbers of all vehicle owners with criminal records, if any
A constable who develops software to nab crooks
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A constable who develops software to nab crooks
