Cops pay the price after taking seized SUV for a spin as owner uses app to lock them up

LUCKNOW: Three policemen from Lucknow paid the price for taking a seized SUV for a joyride. The owner of the vehicle had arrived at the police station to claim his vehicle. When he did not find it he used GPS to track his vehicle and noticed that the vehicle moving almost 143 kilometers away from Lucknow in the Lakhimpur Kheri area.

He then shut the engine of the vehicle and locked the doors of the SUV which was a Mahindra Scorpio.

For three hours the cops stayed trapped inside the vehicle. It is only after the police requested the owner he unlocked the doors through his app.

A complaint has been lodged with Lucknow Police, alleging misuse of his car.

The vehicle was seized and brought to Gomti Nagar Police Station due to an issue involving two parties.

For a fact, GPS tracking system can help in relocating vehicles quite efficiently.

In January this year, the Gauhati High Court had directed the State Transport Commissioner to install GPS (Global Positioning System) in all buses within six weeks so as to enable tracking of their movement.

In May last year, Assam police used GPS to track down suspects of Guwahati grenade blast incident.

After the grenade attack, Assam police had tracked down five suspected accused having links to ULFA-I and were directly involved in the Grenade Blast incident . Meanwhile, a private company namely Ahija.com that provides Bikes and Cars on Rent in the Guwahati city had organized a press conference in connection to the Grenade Blast incident.

The group had narrated how the GPS data of the vehicle used in the blast helped the police immediately to carry forward the investigation regarding the incident.

After watching the images of suspected accused Janabi Saikia on television, the booking department of AHIJA immediately recognized her face and at the same time the GPS monitoring team of AHIJA informed the manager that a particular vehicle of Ahija was in Geetanagar Police station. Connecting all the dots together, AHIJA immediately contacted the DGP, who was busy in a meeting with the CM Sarbananda Sonowal, therefore, DGP directed DCP Dharmendra Das to carry out the investigation further. Ahija had a private meeting with the DCP and police on May 16 in the evening where information was shared regarding the vehicle and its renter.

This is how the police were able to fast forward their investigation.

It is to be noted that if this would have been a stolen vehicle or an auto rickshaw or any other public bus or vehicle without a GPS installed, it would not have been possible for the police to act so quickly and effectively.

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