Damanjodi-based Nalco executive Santosh Kumar Dash realised on August 30, 2013, that Rs 1,60,000 has been wiped off from his bank account. Cyber criminals hacked his Internet banking code to siphon off the money. 

On August 2013, Cuttack police arrested a 33-year-old man with an MBA degree on charges of uploading morphed pictures of a 21-year-old college student on various websites out of personal vendetta. The cyber crime cell traced the Internet protocol (IP) address of accused Manabhanjan Sahu’s laptop and arrested him.

On May 31, 2013, a 22-year-old techie Sushant Mishra was booked for posting photographs and sexually explicit material of a girl on a social networking website. He had uploaded the pictures of the girl after she rejected his marriage proposal.

On April 18, 2013, Siddhartha Shankar Pati of Mangalabag was arrested for uploading and circulating morphed obscene pictures of school and mass education minister Rabi Narayan Nanda online. 

 In September 2012, cops arrested an ex-army man, Jayanta Das, for allegedly posting personal details of a woman on a wife-swapping website.

Cuttack, May 19: These incidents that took place over the past two years have made police sit up and decide to specially equip officers investigating such cases. 

Turning to the crime branch for help, the cops have asked the sleuths to train officers at various police stations on how to investigate cyber crime, including cases related to defamation of women on social networking sites.

Of the 45 cases registered in the past three years, 21 were related to harassment and posting sexually explicit materials on social networking websites.

This year by the end of April, the cyber cell at Cuttack registered nine cases related to various cyber crimes.

Of the 10 cases registered with the cyber police station in 2012, four were related to defamation through posts on social networking sites. 

Seven of the 16 cases registered in 2013 were similar in nature.

Last year, 19 cases were registered of which 10 related to pornographic posts on social networking sites.

With cyber crime cases growing by the day, the bosses thought of asking the crime branch sleuths to train cops at police stations in proper investigative methods.

A senior official said the training programme would be organised in June and cops from various parts of the state would be trained to take up cyber crime cases at their respective police stations.

“The training programme will exclusively deal with technical aspects, investigation of cyber crimes, and methods in tracking culprits and legal provisions in the Information Technology Act,” said B.K. Sharma, additional director-general of police (crime branch).

The training programme will ensure that several cases of cyber crime and online frauds can be taken up at any police station across the state.

Once the officers are sensitised about the act and the methods of taking up cases, it will help in speedy investigation. Sensitive and important crimes requiring hi-tech investigation will then be referred either to the existing cyber cell in Cuttack, functioning from the crime branch headquarters, or the proposed second cyber police station in Bhubaneswar.

Land hurdle for Bhubaneswar

Two years have passed since a proposal to set up a cyber police station in the city was mooted. However, it is yet to come up. 

In 2013, a 6,000 sqft plot was identified near police reserve line at Jayadev Vihar for this purpose. But, legal hurdles forced the authorities to look for another site. 

The state government had sanctioned Rs 1.25 crore for its construction.

Sources in the state crime branch said land was yet to be made available for construction of the building. With the only cyber police station in the state in Cuttack, victims of cyber crime from across Odisha are forced to go there to register their complaints.

The proposed cyber police station in Bhubaneswar will also have similar jurisdiction.

“With more people using the Internet, the number of cyber crime cases has also increased. But with only one cyber police station, the victims have to come down to Cuttack to register their complaints,” said Sambit Das, a lawyer.

“We receive around 30 cases related to cyber crime every year. While the serious ones are transferred to the cyber police station in Cuttack, cyber fraud cases are handled by the police stations concerned in Bhubaneswar. So, there is urgent requirement of a cyber police station here to deal with such crimes,” said a senior police official.

ADDITIONAL RPEORTING BY LELIN KUMAR MULLICK