Kolkata police to conduct gait scan for Mamata Banerjee house security breach

The city police will conduct gait-pattern matching of Hafizul Mollah, who is accused of breaching chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s security ring and entering the compound of her Kalighat residence.

He was allegedly found with an iron rod inside his shirt on July 3.

Gait-pattern matching is a forensic tool by which a suspect could be identified on footage captured by CCTV cameras.

“The gait pattern gives out a lot of information about a suspect if analysed properly. It helps to understand the speed with which the suspect walks, his or her footwear and the pattern of walking if he has any disease (for example, if a person limps or has any other physical disability),” said an official of the forensic department.

The police’s prayer to carry out the gait-pattern matching inside the jail was accepted by the court.

In the case of Mollah, the police said they wanted to identify him from a series of CCTV footage they had captured from around the residence of the chief minister.

An officer said Mollah’s intention would become clearer if his presence could be detected on multiple occasions other than the day when he had allegedly breached the chief minister’s residence perimeter.

The accused was allegedly spotted several times near Mamata’s residence. “If we detect Mollah’s presence in the neighbourhood on multiple occasions, there will be reason to suspect that his intention was to carry out recce of the area. That could help us ascertain the identity of the person he might have planned to meet to carry out a plan,” he said.

Mollah is in judicial custody.