Mumbai: Crime thrives online, little action on ground

The state government in April this year, approved the setting up of four new police stations dedicated to tackling the rising cases of cyber crime in Mumbai. It also sanctioned creating 186 new posts, most of them to be filled by assistant police inspectors.

These units are yet to start work, but meanwhile, cases of cyber crime— which range from data theft to credit and debit card frauds and vishing — have steadily risen over the past three years. Convictions, however, have remained disproportionately low. According to the National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) 2016 report on crime, Mumbai ranked first in the country for cyber crime cases. From 2015, up until May 2018, 10,275 cyber crime cases were filed in Maharashtra. While 3,689 of these were solved by the police, just 93 of these cases went to trial. In all, since 2015, there have been convictions only in 28 cases.

“The detection (solving) rate depends on several factors,” said Balsing Rajput, the superintendent of police (cyber).

“It is difficult to extract information in cyber crime cases. There are many agencies involved, such as the internet service provider, the ones who provide media content online, intermediaries like the banks and technology service providers. There is also the issue of international jurisdictions.”

Rajput pointed out how in many cases, the fraudsters use SIM cards that they got after providing false information.

“The bank accounts of an illiterate person is used, after these fraudsters promise them a commission.” .

Former Maharashtra director general of police and cyber crime expert, D Sivanandhan, said one of the main reasons for low detection and conviction rates was the lack of manpower and poorly trained police officers.

“Further, the law permits only officers from the rank of police inspectors and above to register and investigate the cyber crimes,” he said, and added that the since cyber criminals operate online, many times from another state, it becomes difficult for the police to arrest them. “For this, we need a good inter-state and international network of officers, and improved coordination among investigative agencies.”

At the trial stage, prosecutors and the judges also need to be updated about the growing incidents cyber crimes and the technology that is being used to cheat people. “This may help them better examine evidence, trials will be done faster, and conviction rates will improve. This is the missing link,” Sivanandhan said. Special inspector general of police (cyber crime) Brijesh Singh also stressed on the need to better training and improved technology. “In the near future, we will have a centre for excellence where special training and information pertaining to cyber crimes and its investigations are provided to police, prosecutors and the judiciary. We will also have 44 cyber police units that have state-of-the-art technology.”

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First Published: Aug 07, 2018 00:40 IST