Most of cyber crime cases and illegal net-banking transactions occurring in Uttarakhand are taking time to solve because most of such criminals are based in Jharkhand. Things are delayed as Jharkhand Police do not cooperate with Uttarakhand police, rued the officers engaged in such probes. The cops, tasked to solve such cases, spend large sums on their own to meet the expenses incurred on the count of such investigating trips. “We put up there for a considerably long time to crack such cases and nab the offenders. But the problem is that most of the times, we return empty-handed because of the apathy of our counterparts in the State,” said one of cyber crime investigators.
However, by way of silver lining against the bleak picture of tech-savvy criminals duping people with impunity in the state, Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS) launched by the Central Government would soon come into force in the state. This system is meant to improve connectivity and enhance crime fighting capabilities of the police by facilitating collection, storage, retrieval, analysis, transfer and sharing of data by the police across the country.
However, the observers are reluctant to set much store by the upcoming CCTNS. “Things would not move much on the ground unless Jharkhand Police are made to act on the evidence provided by the Uttarakhand Police. Instances of Jharkhand Police arresting the cyber criminals on the basis of the feeds provided by Uttarakhand Police are woefully rare,” an observer said.
A cyber cell police station official said that once a cyber- related case is reported they collect electronic evidences like identification of the offenders and amount withdrawn or cheated by the offenders. Based on such evidences, teams are sent tasked with errands to arrest the offenders. “And here the problem begins as most of them hail from Jharkhand,” he added.
Investigation has revealed that Jharkhand is notorious for mobile SIMs being sold on fake identity cards. In some cases, police identify the accused based on electronic identity card. “But when we reach Jharkhand to arrest them they turn out to be too illiterate to be able to commit such crimes. We return empty handed,” an officer said.
Cases related to fraudulent transactions involving withdrawal of money from the bank accounts of customers are on the rise and the police department is finding it difficult to solve such cases.
Recently, Haridwar police have busted a gang involved in a serial ATM loot case. The fact came to light in course of investigation that members of a notorious gang who had been trained in Jamtara district of Jharkhand had committed the crime.
Here also, things are far from satisfactory. Cyber cell based in Dehradun SSP office is bereft of trained policemen capable of dealing with tech-savvy criminals. The people grumble over the recently formed Cyber Police Station in Dehradun catering to the affluent. Here, cases are registered on the basis of the amounts siphoned off. Police manning the station are indifferent to such cases where the amounts involved are less than lakhs. For instance, a case of a vegetable vendor Kamlesh Gupta being robbed of Rs 68,000 by such criminals who used net banking to spirit away the money from his bank account was not registered.
Things look gloomy on this case too as the case has been hanging fire despite the cyber cell police station official having collected evidences regarding the identity of the offender. The investigators asked SSP office to lodge an FIR in Nehru Colony Police Station against the offender about a month ago. However, no action has been taken so far by the police officers concerned to grab the offender.