CCTV installer says time mismatch in Twisha Sharma case was due to software issue, not tampering
Bhopal: Amid the ongoing investigation into the death of Twisha Sharma, CCTV installer Vinod Vani on Friday claimed that the CCTV system installed at the residence of ex-judge Giribala Singh was running “2 days, 2 hours, and 20 minutes behind” due to a software issue and not because of tampering.
Speaking to IANS, Vinod Vani said, “In 2023, I had installed a CCTV setup comprising eight cameras at the judge’s residence. I received a call regarding the incident that took place on May 12. Initially, I was unaware of the nature of the incident because usually such calls are related to theft or requests for footage retrieval.”
He further said that he received calls from Giribala Singh on May 13 but informed her that he would not be able to visit immediately.
“She told me that the police were present there, so I instructed Rohit, one of our staff members, to go and check the system,” Vani said.
According to him, they were initially unaware of the seriousness of the matter.
“I thought it was a case of robbery or something similar. However, when Rohit reached there, he informed me that the matter was entirely different,” he said.
Vani further stated that he advised his staff to hand over the footage to the police.
“The CCTV system was running 2 days, 2 hours, and 20 minutes behind. This was not tampering; it was a software issue. If the software had been updated on time, this problem would not have occurred. The recording is complete, and there is nearly one terabyte of data stored in it,” he told IANS.
He also said that after the police seized the footage and equipment, they were asked to install a new CCTV setup at the residence.
“We installed a new setup after two days so that any further activity could also be monitored if required,” he added.
Another staff member, Rohit Vishwakarma, also spoke to IANS and said that he was directed by Vinod Vani to inspect the recording system after the death of Twisha Sharma.
“I received a call from Vinod Vani informing me that something had happened at the judge’s residence and asking me to check the recording,” Vishwakarma said.
He further stated that police and administrative officials were already present at the residence when he arrived.
“They asked me to check the recordings, so I showed them footage from 6 P.M. to 9 P.M. The timing mismatch occurred because servicing of the system had not been done,” he added.