TEHELKA EXPOSE: Cams That Sting

It

wasn’t what Tehelka’s under-cover sting operators considered an ideal

setting for their exposé, but they didn’t have an alternative. To further

dampen things, a goof-up in the sitting position made it difficult for them to

get enough footage of former Samata Party president Jaya Jaitley. If one

remembers the Tehelka tapes, the ‘Jaitley raid’ had more voice than video

frames. Luckily for Tehelka and the country, however, the Aniruddha Bahal-Mathew

Samuel team had a second spycam hidden on their person. That helped, but the

evidence could have been a lot more conclusive.

The dashing investigative duo would not have been repenting if Bahal, who was

sporting dark glasses and a cap to disguise himself as Alvin D’Souza, the

Indian representative of the fictitious West End International, had used Color

Video Optical GR II. These colored dark glasses have an in-built video camera,

but look no different from any ordinary pair of spectacles. The one Bahal

actually used had a full-color super-micro camera built into the nose frame

portion and shot visuals through a tiny pinhole. It also had a safety cord

attached that carried video signals to a matchbox-sized transmitter that

redirected these images for recording at a remote site. Enter the world of tiny

wireless spycams, or covert video surveillance cameras.

While Tehelka has declined any comment on the type of equipment used, the

investigators accepted that the team was using more than one set of spycams.

According to experts, the now famous briefcase, prominent in all Tehelka

recordings, had an in-built pinhole camera. This is corroborated by one of the

investigators, who accepted that the Jaitley episode did not have much video as

they were asked to leave the briefcase outside the room before meeting her.

Some detective agencies feel that while Tehelka may have used an assembled

optic fiber camera fitted in the briefcase, a second camera could have been the

standard pinhole version carried in person and hidden in a buttonhole, or tie,

watch, pen or even the cap that Bahal used to wear. A stationary camera could

also have been fitted in furniture in hotel rooms where conversation with

politicians and defense personnel took place.

The spycams

While

the camera has been used for covert operations all along, the last ten years

have seen the emergence of microchip-based video cameras as small as a 50-paise

coin. These tiny video cameras are at the cutting edge of spycam technology. In

their ten-year history, they have been emerging better, cheaper and smaller with

more features packed into them. Also, during the evolution process, two types of

image sensing technology standards have emerged–charged coupled device (CCD)

and complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS). However, spycams have

several attachments that come as part of the bundled package in spy shops in

Europe and the US. These essentials include the camera, micro-wireless

transmitter that can send signals from 100 meters to four kilometers away,

battery packs, monitors and different adapters.

Setting up a spycam is child’s play. Though readymade cameras fitted in

clocks, smoke alarms, flower vases and even soft toys are readily available, one

can easily hide the transmitter and camera inside any object that suits the

operation, or the occasion! Once switched on, the hidden camera transmits a

crystal clear signal to a small receiver–whose dimensions are usually 5"

by 3" by 1"–slightly smaller than a standard VHS cassette. The

receiver then easily connects to a standard VCR that can record up to eight

hours of visual feed.

According to experts, every VCR manufactured in the world today has

additional RCA adapter plugs that will work with most of these units. In fact,

all standard home VCRs, commercial grade VCRs and time-lapse VCRs have an RCA

line-in video input along with an audio input usually located on the rear of the

unit, allowing recording, as well as viewing with or without a TV connected to

the recorder. Line inputs are the female RCA-type jacks at the rear of the VCR.

No spycam unit can ever be complete without the wireless transmitters, which

are small broadcasting stations. These transmitters allow a camera to ‘beam’

its signal (picture and sound) to a receiver for monitoring or recording at a

frequency ranging between 434 MHz to 2.4 GHz. While the 2.4 GHz transmitters

send their signals to a paired receiver, the 434 MHz (UHF) transmitters

broadcast directly to a normal television or VCR generally on channels 58-61 on

‘cable-ready’ TVs and VCRs and just below channel 14 on analog-style and

portable or hand-held televisions. Different frequencies have different ideal

uses. The higher the frequency, the more directional signals become–2.4 GHz

systems are ideal for stationary links. They can certainly be used for mobile

operations–best with a high-gain patch antenna–but there is likely to be

some ‘breakup’ during movement.

Pinhole camera

A

pinhole camera is a miniature CCD image board with a lens (pinhole, 1-3 mm

opening). The camera ranges from sizes as small as 15mm × 15mm to 2" ×

2". A board camera will give a very real video image (real-time) similar to

a camcorder. However, one does need to connect this camera to a viewing or

recording source. The camera merely takes the video image and sends it to

devices like television, monitor, VCR, camcorder or transmitter. Pinhole cameras

are used when a larger security camera is difficult to smuggle in or does not

fit into the environment. The cameras can be placed in objects such as clocks,

radios, tissue boxes or any household or office item. This keeps the camera

covert for surveillance purposes.

What’s more, these spycams can be as cheap as Rs 10,000, but the price can

go up to Rs 1 lakh, depending on circuitry, chip quality and the vendor. While

those with Chinese or Taiwanese kits are considered inferior, most reputed spy

stores sell cameras that have high-quality chipsets manufactured by the likes of

Sony, Sharp, Toshiba, Samsung and Panasonic. Most cameras are assembled or made

to order by spy stores. According to a Delhi-based detective agency which

regularly uses these cameras, the assembled cameras or the type believed to have

been planted in the Tehalka.com briefcase

are the smartest ones and may even cost up to Rs 1 lakh. The pinhole camera can

be bought at prices ranging from Rs 13,000 to Rs 40,000.

SHUBHENDU PARTH in New Delhi