Cyber fraud victims’ search for probe officer

LUCKNOW: It’s a double whammy for victims of cyber fraud. One, they have lost the money. Second, they have to make rounds of various police stations just to find out who is the investigating officer of their case. Since only inspector rank officers probe offences registered under the IT Act, majority of victims get the copy of the FIR without the name of investigating officer.
Without probe officer, generating leads in a particular case becomes difficult.
Shashi Verma, a resident of Aashiana, was duped of Rs 86,000 in cyber fraud. She lodged an FIR with Aashiana police on April 13. Apart from withdrawing money, the fraudsters, who seem to be a local gang, even bought an LED TV worth Rs 26,900 from an electronics store in Krishnanagar after stealing Shashi’s card.
“At police station I was told that only inspector can probe the case and I was asked to come after a week,” she said. Aware that CCTV footage recorded in the electronics store would not be available, Shashi managed to convince the shop owner to hand over the footage to her the next day. “When I produced the footage at police station, I was told till the time investigating officer (IO) gets appointed, nothing can be done. Will the miscreant sit back and wait for police to come and arrest them. I am the one doing the job of policeman,” she said.
In police stations where no inspector is posted, cases lodged under IT Act are forwarded to additional superintendent of police concerned. The supervisory officers then select the inspector posted under them to probe IT Act related FIR. “The process takes some time. I can just support Verma but not investigate the case,” said station officer, Aashiana police station, Satendra Kumar Rai.
DIG Praveen Kumar said there is confusion over some sections of the IT Act and provisions under it. “We will hold a meeting to clarify it. Name of IOs have to be finalised and communicated back to complainants within 24 hours,” he added.
Nurse Mausami Lal, a resident of Telibagh, was duped of Rs 10,000. After cloning her debit card, fraudsters withdraw Rs 10,000 from her savings account on April 14. “In my case the IT Act was not pressed though money was withdrawn fraudulently through a cloned debit card when I was on-duty at government hospital,” said Lal.
Lal lodged an FIR at SGPGI police station which is headed by Jainuddin Ansari, an inspector rank officer. But surprisingly the IT Act was not pressed, instead FIR was lodged under the IPC sections on cheating and forgery. “The sub-inspector assigned as IO to probe my case is not keen on pursuing the case dubbing the incident as IT Act offence,” said Lal.
Hi-Tech Crime, Complex Norms
· IT offences can only be probed by inspector rank or senior officials
· In police station (PS) where S-I is posted as station officer, IT offences are registered without naming the IO
· In PS where an inspector is posted as SHO, inspectors are relucant to lodge cases under the IT Act to avoid probing the case
· Cyber fraud victims end up making rounds of the police stations to find out who is the IO of their case