Karnataka orders formation of cyber command unit within state police to tackle rising cybercrimes
The cyber command unit will report directly to the Karnataka home department instead of the state police chief.
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The police found that the same cybercriminals were involved in at least 132 such cases across the country. (File/Representational Image)
The Karnataka government Wednesday issued an order for the constitution of a Cyber Command unit within the state police to exclusively tackle the burden of growing cyber crime cases.
The Cyber Command unit, which will function under the control of the Director General of Police for Cybercrime and Narcotics within the Criminal Investigation Department, will report directly to the state home department instead of the state police chief, according to the government order.
Cybercrimes have now outnumbered traditional crimes like dacoity, robbery, and other forms of physical theft. Last year, Karnataka reported 52,000 cybercrimes, the highest among all the states in South India, according to government sources.
“There is a need to create a separate Cyber Crimes Prevention Unit in the state to prevent cyber crimes effectively,” the government order states.
Under the initiative, the government has decided to redesignate 43 CEN (cyber, economics and narcotics) police stations and cyber crime police stations functioning under DGP, CID under the Cyber Crimes Prevention Unit. As many as 193 existing police posts of different ranks have been redesignated to function under the cyber command.
The CEN police stations have been authorised to initiate cases under the Karnataka State Excise Act, 1965 (Karnataka Act, 21 of 1966), the Lotteries Act, 1964, the Karnataka State Lottery Rules, 1999, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967 (Central Act, 37 of 1967), Karnataka Control of Organized Crime Act, 2000 (Karnataka Act, 1 of 2002), and the Information Technology Act, 2000.
They have also been authorised to register Indian Penal Code (IPC) offences under sections 420, 409, 467, 468, 471, 489 (A-E) where the amount involved exceeds Rs 50 lakh and above and fund deposit frauds.
“The Director General and Inspector General of Police has reviewed this proposal and considered it appropriate to establish a new Cyber Command Unit in the state without creating any new posts, utilizing the existing posts and without incurring much financial burden, in order to effectively prevent cyber crimes in Karnataka,” states the order.
The Cyber Command will be created by separating the post of the DGP, Narcotics and Cyber Crime in the CID Division and the DGP, Cyber Command will function under the Deputy Chief Secretary to the Government, Department of Home Affairs, the order states. The current DGP Narcotics and Cyber Crime is Pronab Mohanty, a 1994-batch IPS officer.
According to the government order, the DG Cyber Command will be the Chief Information Security Officer of the state and will manage the Karnataka Cyber Security Policy, while a Multi Departmental Coordinating Committee (MDCC) created in March 2024 to address cases of disinformation will also report to the DG, Cyber Command.
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