{
  "id": 10168868,
  "title": "A face from a skull: How a cop’s AI app is helping identify the unidentified",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/27/a-face-from-a-skull-how-a-cops-ai-app-is-helping-identify-the",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-27T07:52:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Indian Express",
    "slug": "the-indian-express",
    "url": "https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/cop-ai-app-unidentified-raids-10895992/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Police in Ratnagiri, a coastal region of India, have implemented an AI-powered system to identify unidentified bodies and missing persons. The AI-driven application, named RAIDS, utilizes facial reconstruction technology to generate possible appearances from damaged forensic evidence and witness sketches. Since its inception, the system has successfully identified 37 unknown bodies, including those severely decomposed or in skeletal form. It has also provided crucial leads in multiple missing persons cases and helped trace individuals who had gone into hiding for years. Developed by Ratnagiri Superintendent of Police Nitin Bagate, the system employs two specialized modules: Dev Drishti, which generates variations of known faces, and Dev Roop Rekha, which reconstructs faces from witness sketches, damaged photos, partial images, and skeletal remains. The AI platform has demonstrated its effectiveness in challenging cases, such as an unidentified man with a damaged face in Kalyan, an unidentified woman in Panvel, and a 12-year-old acid attack victim in Ahilyanagar. By leveraging AI technology, law enforcement officers in Ratnagiri and neighboring regions have been able to solve long-standing mysteries and bring closure to families seeking answers for their loved ones.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [
    "Ratnagiri police use AI app RAIDS to identify unidentified bodies.",
    "System successfully identified 37 unknown bodies since launch.",
    "RAIDS employs Dev Drishti and Dev Roop Rekha modules for reconstruction."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}