The pandemic has not been able to dampen the work spirit of the Fingerprint Bureau, which has played an active role in helping the cops nab the accused involved in thefts and burglaries during this period. The Bureau officials visited 3,815 locations across the state from March to September this year and helped the police nab 63 criminals. However, the pandemic also hit them hard as 12 of them were infected by COVID-19.

According to the Bureau, in 2019 the Mumbai unit had visited 1,281 places and collected 1,143 fingerprints. This had led to the arrest of 104 accused. Teams from the Mumbai unit visited 575 places across the city between January and September this year and collected 200 fingerprints, which led to the arrest of 19 accused. They visited 48 places in March and 16 places in April and two accused were arrested based on the collections. In May, two accused were arrested after the teams collected fingerprints from 22 places and in June, one person was arrested based on fingerprints collected from 48 places. In August, they visited 72 places and in September about 87 places. Three accused were arrested based on the collections.