A Swagat Kaksh for all the 94 police stations and the Mumbai Police calendar were also unveiled at a function held at the DB Marg police station. Along with the CM, ministers Anil Deshmukh, Aaditya Thackeray, Aslam Shaikh, and Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh were also present at the event on Republic Day.
Increased law enforcement in terms of cybercrime could help a number of victims of data theft, identity theft, online banking fraud cases and also stalking and extortion cases that have been reported in the recent past. It may be mentioned that more than 2,200 cybercrime cases were registered between January and November last year when the pandemic raged on in the city, with the most common scams related to online liquor/food orders.
According to a news report, the new cyber police stations will take up cybercrimes involving amounts from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 50 lakh. Cases involving amounts below Rs 2 lakh will be investigated by the local police, whereas cases involving over Rs 50 lakh would be dealt by existing specialised cybercrime police station at BKC which comes under the crime branch.
Earlier, in Mumbai, there was only a single cyber police station at Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) with the strength of about 60. “It is inconvenient for people from the distant suburbs to travel all the way to BKC with complaints. So, the government has decided to sanction one police station for each region,” deputy commissioner of police S Chaitanya, spokesperson for the department, had said earlier.
Each of these new cyber police stations will be located in five policing regions of the city - North, South, West, East and Central - by the department to tackle cybercrimes.
During the inauguration event, the CM called the cybercrime - e- burglary, a simple way to explain electronic burglary. Thackeray also said that just like citizens have been fighting an unseen enemy in the coronavirus, cybercrime too is the unseen attack that police are ready for. “Criminals are like the virus,” he added.
To operate these police stations, personnel have been trained in investigating cybercrime. They are also versed in cyber laws. Each cyber police station will have 30-50 personnel and they will not be given any bandobast, law-and-order or any other routine duties. Additional Commissioner of Police of each region concerned will monitor the functioning of each such police station while Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) will be responsible for overall supervision.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday inaugurated five new divisional cyber police stations in Mumbai. This will help the Mumbai Police to expand the scope and speed of cyber investigation in the city. These police stations are located in the five regions under Mumbai Police. Photo by Ramesh Sable/TIL