Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Amid the growing menace of cyber crimes, there is another worrisome situation. The state cyber cell is facing staff crunch. As a result, the pendency of complaints registered at the state cyber cell is growing every month. As per statistics provided by state cyber cell, the pending complaints have touched a concerning figure of 3 lakh.
Senior officials at the state cyber crime cell told Free Press that merely 230 police personnel in the state are well-versed with the nuances of tackling cyber crimes. This year, the state cyber cell has received 38,000 cyber crime complaints.
If the officials are to be believed, the yearly count of cyber crimes was 5,000 to 6,000 per year till 2021, which has grown exponentially since then. According to officials, all the 230 cyber cops posted across the state are busy in probing old cases, and are sometimes deployed on law and order duties due to which the investigations are hampered.
Refusing to accept plaints
The proposal to lay a dedicated cyber police station in all the 55 districts of Madhya Pradesh was introduced almost a year-and-a-half ago. It is in the limbo as the state government lacks funds, sources at state cyber cell told Free Press. Moreover, the districts, in which the cyber cell is already present, refuse to accept complaints where the amount defrauded from people is above Rs 2 lakh. Thus, the victims who end up losing more than Rs 2 lakh in cyber frauds have to come all the way to Bhopal to lodge their complaint at the state cyber cell.
Training underway
Additional Director General of Police (state cyber cell) Yogesh Deshmukh said the training to tackle cyber crimes to all the cops in the state had begun a year ago, which is still underway. Some respite is likely after training gets over, he added.
