🔴 By| Rahul Varde
🟡 AI-powered RAIDS App for Identifying Unidentified Bodies and Tracing Missing Persons Earns National Recognition
Ratnagiri: Ratnagiri District Superintendent of Police Nitin Bagate (IPS) has been selected among the top five police officers in India in the prestigious Prime Minister’s Silver Cup Competition, bringing national recognition to Ratnagiri Police for its innovative use of technology in policing.
The recognition is linked to the RAIDS App, an initiative conceptualised and developed under the leadership of SP Nitin Bagate to assist police in identifying unidentified and unclaimed bodies and in tracing missing persons through modern technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The Prime Minister’s Silver Cup is an annual competition associated with the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy ( Hyderabad, and provides a platform for serving police personnel from across India to present innovative policing practices and case studies. The 2025 edition was conducted as the Prime Minister’s Silver Cup Case Study Competition (PMSCCS-2025), with participation open to serving police personnel of different ranks across the country.
The 2025 competition focused on the theme “Core Policing as the Bedrock: Technology as an Enabler or Force Multiplier,” highlighting the growing role of technology in strengthening conventional policing.
🟡 RAIDS App: Technology for Human Identification
The RAIDS App brings together information relating to unidentified and unclaimed dead bodies in a consolidated digital system. Using available photographs and other information, AI technology is used to create digital facial representations that can assist investigators in establishing the identity of deceased persons.
In cases where decomposition or the condition of the body makes conventional facial identification difficult, the system can assist in reconstructing a probable facial appearance from available information. The technology is also being used to generate multiple facial variations of missing persons, helping investigators conduct technology-assisted searches.
🟡 153 Unclaimed Bodies Recorded
According to information provided by Ratnagiri Police, 153 unclaimed bodies have so far been registered through the RAIDS App.
Of these, 135 cases relate to unclaimed and decomposed bodies from Ratnagiri district. AI-assisted digital facial representations were prepared in these cases, and 14 bodies were successfully identified.
The initiative has also helped beyond Ratnagiri district. According to the police, 19 unclaimed bodies from outside the district were registered through the system, with seven cases successfully identified with the assistance of the RAIDS App.
🟡 381 Missing Persons Registered
The app has also been used for missing-person investigations. Police data provided for the initiative states that 381 missing persons have been registered on the platform. Digital facial representations based on available information are being prepared to support their identification and tracing.
The approach combines conventional police investigation with AI-assisted facial analysis, potentially providing investigators with an additional tool in difficult identification cases.
🟡 National Recognition for Technology-Based Policing
The selection of SP Nitin Bagate among the top five police officers in India in the Prime Minister’s Silver Cup competition is being viewed as significant recognition of Ratnagiri Police’s efforts to integrate emerging technology with core policing.
The presentation of the RAIDS App at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy in Hyderabad has placed the Ratnagiri initiative on a national platform and highlighted how AI can be used to address complex challenges involving unidentified bodies and missing persons.
The recognition also reflects the broader objective of technology-enabled policing—using digital tools not as a replacement for traditional investigation, but as a force multiplier to improve identification, investigation and the chances of restoring identities to unidentified victims and reuniting missing persons with their families.
For Ratnagiri Police, the national recognition of the RAIDS initiative marks an important milestone in innovation-driven and technology-assisted policing.
