Jamshedpur: A dedicated police station to fight cyber crime debuted in the steel city on Thursday.

A three-storey building on Bistupur thana premises, which hosted the Bistupur traffic police station until now, will be the new cyber vigil headquarters in the city.

East Singhbhum SSP Anoop Birtharay, who did the honours of launching the facility in the presence of his colleagues, said they would no longer have to refer cases to Ranchi. "Our very own cyber thana is here. Advanced equipment from the state police headquarters will arrive soon," he said.

Jamshedpur is the fifth urban centre after Ranchi, Dhanbad, Jamtara and Giridih to boast a dedicated cyber police station. Sources said the new cyber thana was opened in Bistupur instead of on Sakchi police station premises owing to availability of more space.

DSP composite crime control (CCR) Sudhir Kumar said Bistupur thana OC Shreeniwas had been made the acting in-charge of the cyber police station.

"At the moment, the facility has two computers with high-speed Internet and a scanner. We have already sent our requisition for more computers and advanced equipment such as CDR (call detail record) analyser, software and hardware to crack passwords of laptops, mobile phones and e-wallets," Kumar said.

Until now, all the 34 police stations in the district, including 17 within city limits, had cyber cells to deal with computer-aided crimes like siphoning off money from bank accounts and cyber stalking.

"On an average, five cases of cyber crime are reported in city every day. Earlier, a complainant had to file a case at the respective thana cyber cell from where details were routed to the cyber police station in Ranchi. Now, the process will be easier. Residents do not have to bother about jurisdiction. Irrespective of where the crime has taken place, they can come to the Bistupur facility," SSP Birtharay said.