Police in Kerala create WhatsApp group to track thief

The police officials as well as the locals in the area are searching for Asokan, who had attacked a woman-homemaker and robbed her jewellery around 10 days ago.

Kasaragod (Kerala): Police in Kerala's Kasaragod district redefined the scope of WhatsApp by using it to trace a local thief from Madikkai village. The police officials here started a WhatsApp group named after the thief himself, called 'Kallan Asokan', wherein Kallan translates to thief in English. The group was used to track the updates of the thief's whereabouts with the help of the villagers, 251 of whom were added to the group.

The police officials as well as the locals in the area are searching for Asokan, who had attacked a woman-homemaker and robbed her jewellery around 10 days ago. Although they had managed to nab one of Asokan's close aides, Manjunathan during the initial investigation, Asokan had managed to escape. Police then came up with the idea of creating the WhatsApp group, in his name, with his photograph to use the locals more effectively to track him.

Based on the information and inputs available with the officials, they believe that Asokan is hiding inside the forest area in the village, which has a 400-acre government land set aside for a meat processing unit. The group, with 251 members actively tracking the movements of the accused and sharing updates regularly in the group, are helping the police. This is for the first time in the history of Kerala police, a WhatsApp group has been formed to nab a robber.