Dedicated cyber police stations in 44 Bihar districts soon: Official

Bihar will soon have dedicated cyber police stations in each of the 44 districts to deal with cyber-related crimes cases, a senior police official said.

A meeting of Prashashi Padwarg Samiti presided by Bihar chief secretary Amir Subhani along with other officials in the state government decided to approve the proposal to set up the cyber police stations in the state sent by the home department.

Officials familiar with the matter told HT that the committee approved the proposal which was later sent to the state cabinet for final approval.

Cyber police stations will be set up across the state, including four railway districts - Patna, Muzaffarpur, Katihar, Samastipur - and two police districts Bagaha and Naugachhia.

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The cyber police stations will have jurisdiction over the entire police district.

Currently, there is no cyber police station in the state even though seven are operational in the neighbouring Jharkhand, 18 in Uttar Pradesh, 14 in Odisha and 15 in Delhi.

Bihar has set up 74 Cyber Crime and Social Media Units (CCSMUs) instead, with big districts having up to 3-4 units.

Police headquarters now plan to convert the existing CCSMUs into cyber police stations to ensure easy accessibility and quick disposal of cases related to online fraud, said the official.

The economic offence unit (EoU) of the Bihar police deals with cases of cyber fraud.

To kick-start the process, the home department created 660 posts including a DIG, two SPs, 44 DSPs, 226 inspectors and 44 constables, purchase of equipment besides issued administrative and financial approvals a few days back.

“The strength of the EOU has also been enhanced to tackle the growing number of cyber fraud cases. A new post of Cyber DIG has been created. At present, local police stations are usually reluctant to take up cyber fraud cases and they are registered only if they are related to high-profile persons or after the court order,” the official said.

The online portal of the ministry of home affairs has over 40,000 complaints from Bihar alone, with 70% dealing with bank fraud.