Hyderabad, February 24: Certain offences like phishing (a practice of using fraudulent e-mails and copies of legitimate websites to extract financial data from computer users for purposes of identity theft) and cyber stalking may appear relatively new to some investigators, who need to be trained to deal with such cases, the officer said. On the issue of jurisdiction, Mohan said police operate within local boundaries, focusing on crime occurring within their area.
“But the global nature of Internet and cyber space brings together the offenders, victims and targets, who were otherwise situated in different countries.” Often the cyber offences span beyond national boundaries, making it difficult for investigators to collect evidence and apprehend the culprit, he said. CrPC provides for writing Letter Rogatory (LR) and seek information from abroad and also process requests coming from other countries. But the process of securing evidence through LR was lengthy and time-consuming.
This delay allows the offender to repeat his offences with impunity, he said. The Government should have Mutual Legal Assistance treaties with a large number of countries to ensure speedy probe of cyber crime, said Mohan, who was a forensic expert. At present three cyber crime police stations are functional in Andhra Pradesh, an IT hub with Hyderabad as the main centre. While CID cyber crime station was set up in 2002, one in Hyderabad and another under jurisdiction of Cyberabad Commissionerate were working since last year.
——–PTI