The Bangalore police probing last Wednesday's bomb blast case along with the National Investigation Agency might want to take a leaf out of the Mumbai police's book. The Mumbai police had asked locksmiths in the city to maintain records of customers approaching them to get duplicate keys made after learning their lesson from previous blast cases in which stolen vehicles had been used to plant explosives.
The initial probe into this week's blast that took place near the office of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Bangalore revealed that the explosive had been planted on a two-wheeler stolen from Hyderabad.
At the instructions of the police, locksmiths in Mumbai have started keeping records of customers since a few months. They have been told to maintain a register with specific details of customers - name, address, vehicle registration number and cellphone number.
Ranjeet Shah, a locksmith oeprating in Vile Parle (west) said that a policeman had visited locksmiths in the area early this year and asked them to maintain records of daily customers. "Till date, I've maintained 90 entries of customers with name, address and mobile number," said Shah, adding that the police have keep a record of their identity proof with them.
Asked how they ensure that the details given by customers are genuine, Shah said once a customer gives him details, he makes a phone call instantly.
Shankar Gupta, another key-maker down the same lane as Shah, said that those who come to make duplicate key of their vehicle, they make photostat copies of their driving licence. "It also assures us that the vehicle actually belongs to the person," said Gupta. Key maker Rajesh Shah, who sits next the Shiv Sena office in Vile Parle, said he too maintains these records meticulously although the the police do not drop by regularly to check the records "I don't know the purpose of this exercise but am doing my job as I've been told to," he said.
A crime branch officer, who requested anonymity, said that stealing vehicles by using duplicate keys is not new.
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