The anti-terror unit of the Delhi Police — Special Cell — is in the process of procuring high-end software and hardware to keep track of emails and phones of terror groups operating in the national Capital.

The Department has procured a high-end equipment through which it can also hack any encrypted communications. To fight out the terror outfits, the unit will now effectively  monitor the virtual world of the suspected terrorists and radicalised youth.

The entire proposal of procuring Multi User Internet Monitoring System (IMS) and software worth Rs 6 crore  will be set up at the  lodhi Colony office of the unit. Through this system, police can now crack  into sites like Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, Tumblr and even chat applications like Telegram, Wickr, Gliph and WhatsApp.

At a recent law and order meeting chaired by Police Commissioner Alok Kumar Verma, Special Commissioner of Police Arvind Deep, who heads the Special Cell, said, "The Ministry of Communication and IT, Department of Telecommunication has granted permission to the Special Cell for the procurement of hardware of Multi User Internet Monitoring System (IMS) connectivity." Now, the Special Cell has initiated the process for the procurement of the equipment. 

The officer said, "The hardware and software to be procured by global tendering and many companies have presented their demonstrations to us. The volume of material on social media sites is a challenge and to monitor this is a very tough task. We will be using keywords to crack the coded language between suspected terrorists."

The Delhi Police is the first police force to get permission from the Union Home Ministry to start internet and social networking surveillance unit as such an infrastructure is only accessible to the Central Intelligence Agencies so far.

"When terror organisations are running a campaign on social networking sites, we need to upgrade ourselves to fight them effectively," the officer said.