Looking for clues: CCTV footage lends eyes to probe in Red Fort blast case

The room, located at one corner of the seven-room police post, is headed by a sub-inspector. As per protocol, officers of constable or head constable rank monitor footage from the cameras round the clock, keeping watch over the entire area surrounding Red Fort and Chandni Chowk.

Officers have specifically been tasked to review footage from around 50 cameras installed along the stretch between Chatta Rail and Chandni Chowk T-Point on Netaji Subhas Marg, where the blast took place on Monday.

Overall, around 350 CCTV cameras installed by the Delhi Police are connected to the control room of the police chowki. These cover areas like Red Fort, Chandni Chowk and Lajpat Rai Market, located opposite the Red Fort. The room has a video wall with multiple fixed screens, each connected to four to six cameras, allowing officers to monitor live footage.

According to sources, at the time of the blast, a constable was monitoring activities at Lajpat Rai Market and around Red Fort. The blast was captured by several cameras installed around the Red Fort traffic light. In one of the clips accessed by The Indian Express, the explosion can be seen occurring at 6:52:57.

“The CCTV cameras are the eyes and ears of the force these days. Every police station tries to make the best use of them. In this case, too, several clues have been obtained through CCTV footage. We still hope to get more leads from it,” an officer told The Indian Express.

The footage from the last 30 days is stored in DVRs (digital video recorders) of each CCTV camera, the officer added.

The Red Fort police chowki is part of Kotwali police station.