Cybercrime surge sparks concern across parties in Bihar Vidhan Parishad

Patna: The issue of a sharp rise in cybercrime was raised in the Bihar legislative council on Thursday with members across party lines expressing concern and calling for more effective measures to tackle the growing threat.

Replying to the debate, deputy CM Samrat Choudhary, who also holds charge of the home department, informed the House that more than one lakh cybercrime complaints had been registered in the state. He said money in 6,510 registered complaints had been recovered and returned to victims.


Providing detailed figures, Choudhary said a total of 1,17,812 cybercrime complaints had been registered so far. “Out of these, money in 54,256 cases was put on hold and in 6,150 cases money was given back to the victim,” he said.

Sharing data on arrests and recoveries, he said 977 arrests were made in 2024, during which Rs 6 crore was recovered. In 2025, he said, 1,098 arrests had been made and Rs 16 crore recovered.

Choudhary further told the House that in 2024 and 2025, a total of 136 cases of so-called digital arrests were reported, in which criminals posed as CBI officers or officials of other agencies to deceive people. He added that cybercriminals had duped victims of a total Rs 517 crore in the state, of which Rs 116 crore was put on hold.

Acknowledging the seriousness of the issue, Choudhary said the home department was taking all possible steps to control cybercrime. He informed the House that a separate Cyber Crime and cyber security cell was established in Oct last year. “I assure you that govt will work diligently to stop cyber crime,” he said.

Raising a starred question, MLC Maheshwar Singh said the pace of action to curb cybercrime was far slower than the speed at which criminals were operating. He also urged the home department minister to initiate bulldozer action against cybercriminals, on the lines of action taken in other categories of crime.

RJD chief whip in the Vidhan Parishad, Abdul Bari Siddiqui, also raised a call attention motion on the issue. Several other members expressed concern over the increasing instances of cybercrime, with some even sharing their own experiences of receiving threat calls from fraudsters attempting to dupe them.

Council chairperson Awadhesh Narain Singh, speaking in a lighter vein, also shared his experience, saying he introduced himself as the CBI director when he received such a call, after which the caller immediately disconnected.