India: Delhi Police scanned around 200 CCTV cameras and checked nearly 500 guest houses in Meerut in less than 20 hours to zero in on the location of Indian Army major Nikhil Rai Handa and arrest him from Meerut Cantonment on Sunday morning.

The footage from two CCTVs showing the Honda City car, which Handa had used in the murder of Shailza Dwivedi, wife of Army major Amit Dwivedi, gave police their first clue .

Though the car’s registration number was not visible in the footage, further scanning of almost 100 cameras on routes between the two spot — Army Base hospital and Handa’s parental home in Saket — helped police establish his role in the murder, reports the Hindustan Times.

Both Handa and his car were missing when police reached his home. His family members claimed that they were unaware of his whereabouts. Police examined the call records of Handa’s mobile that confirmed his presence near the crime scene.

‘We questioned Handa’s family members and learnt that he was earlier posted in the military engineering wing. His brother said he could have gone to Meerut. We searched 500 Army as well as private guest houses. Handa was caught him while he was trying to flee,’ said a police officer.

During interrogation, Handa revealed that he wanted to get rid of Shailza because she allegedly had become ‘obsessed’ with him. However, police claimed that Handa was obsessed with Shailza. Speaking to HT, Shailza’s brother, a criminal lawyer in Amritsar, denied that his sister was having a ‘affair’. He claimed that Handa had mistook his sister’s ‘friendly behaviour’ as a signal that she too had developed a ‘liking’ for him.