An employee of a big company was looted at gunpoint in Bhavnagar in February 2010. Five months later, a gang of robbers looted an angadia firm and killed one of the employees near Palanpur. In February this year, a gang was arrested in Kapodara near Surat with a firearm.
The police suspected the same gang was involved in the two incidents, but were not sure. The situation was perplexing as several gang members, who had used a similar modus operandi, were behind bars.
But forensic experts cracked the case and showed that the same gang was at work and had also used the same weapon. The case was recently included in an international publication as a ‘hit.’
For forensic experts dealing with firearms and ballistics, this term means interconnection of several crimes through the same weapon helping nab the culprits.
“We have reported several ‘hits’ earlier with traditional technology involving microscopic examination of the evidence. However, now accurate work is done by Integrated Ballistic Identification System (IBIS). It is among the first cases where a strong database has helped police crack the case,” said J M Vyas, director general of Directorate of Forensic Sciences (DFS).
Explaining the cases, H T Modi, assistant director (ballistics) at DFS, told TOI that the robbers had used 7.65 mm bullets in the two crimes.
“As the grooves were smooth, we could make out that it was a country-made pistol was fired at close range in both the cases. In Bhavnagar, one person was injured, whereas in Palanpur, one man was killed. When the weapon came to us, it was immediately identified as the one used in both crimes,” he said.
This helped police nab more than 10 members of the Bhupat Ahir gang.
Ahir is involved in inter-state crimes and more than 16 robberies in Gujarat, mainly targeting jewellers and diamond traders.
Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Software-helps-nab-hardened-criminals/articleshow/9403137.cms
