Andhra Pradesh has become the first State to trace the digital footprints of hundreds of persons who have attended a gathering at the Alami Markaz Banglewali Masjid, the headquarters of the Tablighi Jamaat, in the Nizamuddin area of Delhi.
By using a time-tested technology to obtain information about the Call Data Records (CDR) of persons, the A.P. police have helped in identification of the persons who have attended the gathering in the capital and in tracking the COVID-19 disease clusters across the country.
CDR is part of a standard investigative tool used by the police and is sourced through mobile telephone operators to get information of date, time of call duration, the receiver of calls, get International Mobility Equipment Identity (IMEI) and identify the location of the caller. It also helps police to get the exact geographical location of the caller.
It began on March 25, after a 52-year-old man tested positive for COVID-19 and at that time, no one had a clue about his travel history. Even as the district administration was grappling to trace the contacts of the man, Deputy Inspector General, Guntur Urban Police District, P.H.D. Ramakrishna came up with the idea to use the CDR technology to trace his travel history and his contacts.
IB alerted
It has emerged that the man was in Nizamuddin and attended the congregation during March 15-18, in which thousands of participants from across the country and some from East Asian countries took part. An alert was sent to the Intelligence Bureau, Delhi setting off a frenetic effort to identify the trail of the attendees, their primary contacts and now disease clusters.
The A.P. police have helped trace 13,702 people who attended the meeting from across the country. Of them, 831 were from Andhra Pradesh. In Guntur Urban Police District alone, 103 Delhi returnees have been identified and sent to quarantine. The areas where they lived, have been declared as red zone.
“It was some quick thinking that has helped us to track the man’s travel history and probably, that saved the lives of many others, as we were able to move them to quarantine without delay,’’ said a senior police officer.
