Police in Belagavi district reunited 12 missing people with families after months of work using AI and digital forensics. Social media tracking played a role too. A long-awaited success.
They found these individuals scattered across states. Some were in Maharashtra's Sangli,Raigad,Beed districts,others in Anand district of Gujarat and Goa. A few had even settled in cities like Bengaluru,Vijayapura,and Bagalkot. After legal procedures,all 12 are now back home.
Facial recognition software was key . It matched photos with databases,CCTV footage. An AI age-progression tool helped update old images with current appearances,boosting ID chances.
Police used a mix of tools — social media analysis, mobile records, digital transactions. Signal triangulation,email records mapped movement patterns. A senior officer said, “Such data supplements traditional methods.” Once location confirmed,local cops teamed up with jurisdictional police for the reunion.
Superintendent of Police K . Ramarajan and Additional Superintendent R.B. Basaragi oversaw this mission. Called “detect and reunite,” the effort led by Women's Police Station Inspector Netravati B. Patil included tech staff Sachin Patil and Vinod Thakkannavar.
Operation shows tech can close gaps traditional methods leave open . But how much further can tech take us…
