The cyber crime cell, which is assisting in the Axis Bank card cloning case, is being bogged down by manpower, technical, administrative and legal issues that prevent it from successfully investigating cases. Two prime units of the Mumbai police — the cyber crime investigation cell that comes under the crime branch and the cyber crime police station at BKC — probe such cases.
While officers transferred here are imparted specialised training, police sources said that the men are still grappling with the dynamics of the Internet crime as they have ventured into the area at a very nascent stage. “Unlike western countries, where cyber crime cells were established decades ago, it is a new phenomenon in India and particularly in Mumbai. They have been introduced to this type of crime when it has already acquired very sophisticated proportions. We do take assistance from independent experts,” said an officer.
The police has also pointed out towards investigative rules in the Information Technology (IT) Act that become an impediment in probing cases. “The IT Act states cyber cases should only be investigated by rank of a police inspector and above. This prevents officers API and PSI from investigating them, thereby curtailing the number of officers handling cases for the entire city. So either the government should amend the act, or recruit more number of officers,” said a police officer. The BKC police station has three PIs and one senior PI. The cyber crime cell, on the other hand, is headed by a senior PI, a PI and other police staff.
Another problem hampering cyber cases is the absence of dedicated courts for cyber crime cases. “There are different courts for cases of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), courts for corruption cases, Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) courts and Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Tada) cases. Moreover, the chargesheet in cyber cases is also very technical,” added another officer.
Cyber expert Vijay Mukhi said officers dealing with cyber crime cases should be sent for advanced hacking and other awareness symposiums held abroad. “This is common for law enforcement agencies in foreign countries but in not India. Merely imparting training before being posted in cyber crime cells is not enough. Banks should also issue chip based debit and ATM cards in place of magnetic strips which are easier to clone,” he said.