PANAJI
The retrieval of crucial CCTV footage from northern coastal nightclubs has become a tough challenge for the Goa Police after the High Court of Bombay at Goa ordered an inquiry into whether the “auto-deleted” recordings could still be recovered.
According to cyber forensic experts, if the Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) storing the footage have been overwritten, the chances of recovery are slim.
On Tuesday, the High Court was informed that footage from 22 clubs in the coastal belt, particularly in Anjuna, for December 2024 had already been deleted. Experts stated that this likely indicates the data has been replaced with new recordings.
“It is difficult to retrieve deleted data once a drive has been overwritten,” Harold D’Costa, Senior Consultant for Law Enforcement Agencies specializing in cyber security breaches and cybercrime investigations, said.
He suggested that immediate action was crucial to protect the footage from deletion. “If there is any possibility of retrieval, the first step should be to stop using the system to minimize further overwriting,” he added.
D’Costa explained that DVRs have a set storage capacity, automatically deleting old footage as new data is recorded while also adding that if a backup system exists -- where footage is retained for a certain period -- some data might still be recoverable, depending on the timing and frequency of backups.
A retired IPS officer, who played a key role in strengthening the cyber security infrastructure in Goa, echoed similar concerns.
“Fundamentally, the footage does not get erased but is overwritten,” the officer said, requesting anonymity.
“If nothing is written over it, the footage can still be retrieved. But once it’s overwritten, recovery becomes nearly impossible without forensic intervention. Standard retrieval methods would be ineffective in such cases,” he added.
Another expert in digital forensics suggested that while data recovery tools may be able to extract fragments of lost footage, reconstructing a complete video file from overwritten data remains highly impossible.
However, he added that if the nightclub CCTV systems had automatic backups -- whether on an external storage device or a cloud-based service -- there might still be hope of retrieving the data.
On Tuesday, the High Court directed the Superintendent of Police (North Goa) to inquire into the deletion of CCTV footage from establishments allegedly charged with violating noise regulations and whether it could be retrieved.
The Bench also directed the police to ensure that CCTV footage of these premises is preserved for proceedings.
