Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale has brought all the newly formed cyber police stations located in each of the five zones of the city under the purview of the Mumbai Crime Branch.
Nagrale, in a recent order, said that five cyber police stations would report to the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber) and later to the Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime). The CP also said that the special cyber police stations will investigate only those fraud cases in which the amount involved is more than Rs 10 lakh.
Cyber police stations, which were allotted to each zone earlier this year, first reported to the Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) and probed cases where the amount involved was more than Rs 2 lakh.
“Earlier, the government had sanctioned only one cyber police station at BKC, which had jurisdiction over the entire Mumbai city and all major crimes were being investigated by it. In 2019, four more police stations were sanctioned and till now they were functioning under Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order). Now, they will work under the DCP (cyber), who will further report to the joint CP (crime),” Nagrale said, adding that the police stations would also be upgraded soon.
“We are trying to make provision of proper infrastructure and also introduce necessary equipment and software to detect critical cases,” the CP said.
Five Cyber Police Stations commissioned on January 26, 2021, DB Marg Police Station at Grant Road for South Zone, Worli Police Station for Central Zone, Shivaji Nagar Police Station at Govandi for East Zone, BKC Police Station . Samtanagar Police Station at Borivali for the Western Zone and for the Northern Zone.
The order issued by the Mumbai CP said that while the BKC Cyber Police Station would continue to be the Headquarters of the Nodal Officer of the Cyber Department, i.e. DCP (Cyber) would remain in its premises, the Police Station would now look into the matters. which are registered only in the western region.
“Earlier, all important and sensitive matters of Mumbai Crime Branch were handled by BKC Cyber Station. Now, that workload will be divided, which will help us be more efficient. With the number of cyber fraud cases increasing day by day, it was necessary to transfer the newly formed cyber units under the crime branch. Also, till now we have been asked to investigate those cases in which the amount is more than Rs 10 lakh. This will help us in improving the quality of investigation.”
Cases involving an amount less than Rs 10 lakh will be investigated by the respective local police stations.
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