The Mumbai police recently upgraded themselves by adopting a new technology that can help them to not only trace suspected vehicles, but also give them details of a mobile phone subscriber’s records within seconds.

The technology can help them zero in on suspects of petty crimes, like chain snatching, as well as trace the suspected phone numbers in case of any operation against terrorists.

Known as Talash, it was recently adopted by the central region of the city police as a pilot project and is connected with all police stations within the region. It has been prepared by Jagjit Singh Garewal, 30, for the Mumbai Police. Garewal left his job in an MNC and started making softwares for the police.

Deputy commissioner of police (DCP), zone III, Kishor Jadhav said every DCP has got access to data of Subscriber Detail Records (SDR) of mobile phone users from the data given by service providers.

“We can also access the data online as we have been given the login authorisation. But since the authorisation was available only to a DCP, only I could see the details. Now, we have connected this data with the Talash system through which we just need to send in the mobile number of the suspected user on the Talash software number. The system will soon provide us with the user’s SDR, and through my login my staff can access the data from their mobile phones,” Jadhav said.He added that in cases of threatening and/or vulgar calls it used to take 10 to 15 days to trace the mobile phone user, but now it will take a few seconds.

Another major advantage of the software is that it will help the police trace vehicles they are searching for in nakabandi, those involved in hit-and-run cases, as well as the ones abandoned and stolen.

“The National Informatics Centre in Delhi has the data of all the government departments across the country, including RTOs, since 2007. It has given read-only access to DCPs. The vehicle user details can also be obtained through the chassis and engine number of vehicle. The details are messaged to the system and the system sends back a reply on a real time basis. The system has been made available by me to the local police station through my login system,” said Jadhav.