Delhi Police Crime Branch gets dedicated cyber cell

In a bid to speed up investigation in cases related to IT Act which have more than doubled in the last four years, a dedicated cyber cell for the Crime Branch was inaugurated today by Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi.
Speaking on the occasion, the police chief directed his force to make effective use of the existing facilities and further make it a state-of-the-art centre for cyber crime investigations.
The cyber cell will function from Old PS Kotwali building, Daryaganj, New Delhi.
"Cyber Crime cases have witnessed a quantum jump over the past few years. These complaints are being received by hand as well as through post or e-mails and are generally related to social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube besides fake e-mail IDs, hacking of websites, e-mail accounts, credit card frauds, internet banking, frauds, abusive, defamatory or threatening e-mails and Nigerian 419 scam," said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav.

According to police data, it registered 226 cases under Information Technology Act (IT Act) last year. The cases have doubled in the last four years as only 99 cases were registered in 2011. In 2012, 84 cases were filed, while 150 were probed in 2013.
"The evidence in such cases is required to be immediately retrieved and analysed. Since the evidence pertains to e-mails, websites, chat rooms and databases has to be traced on the desktops, laptops as well as mobiles phones, it is imperative that the data is retrieved at the earliest and following the prescribed procedure for its admissibility in courts," said Yadav.

Thus, in order to investigate cyber crime cases and quickly retrieve or analyse important and relevant data, a separate cyber cell has been set up in the Crime Branch which will deal with cases related to cyber crime in Delhi. This cyber cell will work in tandem with the cyber cells of EOW and Special Cell, he added.
The cell will start functioning under the guidance of Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime (HQ) M A Rizvi, who has previously handled cyber crimes during his tenure in EOW. He shall be assisted with teams of suitably trained staff, police said.