The city police will start cyber crime cells in 12 places so that the public can quickly approach them and lodge any complaint related to cyber crime. These cells will start functioning from Saturday at the police station of the 12 Deputy Commissioners of Police.
Commissioner of Police Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal inaugurated the facility through video conferencing on Friday. The exponential growth in online transactions and use of social media resulted in sharp rise in the number of cyber crimes. Most cases pertained to OTP fraud, cyber stalking, harassment of women and obscene, abusive and divisive posts.
A cyber crime cell was created at Central Crime Branch (CCB) in 2003 at Vepery. The complainants had to travel to Vepery from all parts of the city.
In order to facilitate filing of complaints at the headquarters police stations of the DCPs, the Chief Minister directed setting up of cyber cells at the 12 stations at Mylapore, Kilpauk, Chintadripet, Mambalam, Adyar, St. Thomas Mount, Anna Nagar, Avadi, Otteri, North Beach, New Washermenpet, and Madhavaram Milk Colony.
Mr. Aggarwal said the complainants may approach the jurisdiction police headquarters and lodge their complaints. This facility is expected to ensure prompt action in cases of cyber complaints. In order to ensure effective functioning of these units, a training programme was conducted for the the staff deputed to these units.
