Madhya Pradesh cyber police HQ, the best in country 

Despite having only  225 dedicated personnel spread across the state, the MP cyber police HQs is now regarded as one of the best cyber police forces in the country. 
Madhya Pradesh cyber police HQ, the best in country 

MADHYA PRADESH : Four-and-a-half years years back in September 2018, a raid at a rented flat in Bhopal’s Indrapuri area led to a fake call centre, whose operators duped loan defaulter US citizens, by posing as officers of US law enforcement agencies. The arrest of eight youths not only unearthed the big racket, which had money (via cryptocurrency) by exacting and terrorising US nationals, but further investigations by MP cyber police HQs also led to similar fake call centres in Jaipur and Delhi being busted by local police there.

Nearly 15 months later, following a sustained investigation by MP’s cyber cops, assisted by crucial evidence provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the deposition by the victim US citizens and FBI staff as key witnesses, the eight accused were found guilty and sentenced to five years each in jail.

Successful investigation resulted in not only cash awards from the MP DGP, but also letters of commendation from the FBI to inspector Abhishek Sonekar, sub-inspector Anuj Samadhiya, and Vinay Narwaria. NASSCOM and the Data Security Council of India recognized Sonekar as the Best Cyber Cop in 2018. The state police’s full-fledged cyber cell, led by ADG Yogesh Deshmukh, is now regarded as one of the best cyber police forces in the country.

In 2019, the Indore zonal unit of state cyber police busted a call centre. A total of 80 accused were taken to Indore by bus to appear before the special court. This case, which is under trial, also saw the FBI joining the MP cyber-cops in the investigation. 

In 2018, Indore’s unit successfully busted a dark-net debit and credit card fraud syndicate.. The case eventually helped the RBI and commercial banks secure over 4 lakh bank account holders. The same Indore unit had busted another international racket, which stole live signals of IPL matches 8 seconds before they were actually broadcast and streamed them to cricket betting websites.

In 2021, Bhopal zonal unit busted an international syndicate that lured young Indian businessmen into a romance trap, then convinced them to invest huge sums in shell firms through malicious web pages, before laundering the money to Pakistani and Chinese scammers using crypto-currencies. In recognition of their excellent investigation, the MP state cyber police won the top prize from the National Crime Records Bureau.  

All five zonal units and cyber police stations in MP cracked important cyber-crime cases last year, with two cases standing out as trendsetters. The MP Cyber Police HQs won several laurels, despite having just around 225 dedicated-force spread across the state. It has also won the top prize from the Data Security Council of India (DSCI) in 2022 by successfully training 11,000 in cyber-crime investigations. 

The five zonal units, including the one in Bhopal headed by SP Vaibhav Srivastava, have successfully trained around 200 prosecution officers and also educated over five lakh people across the state about staying safe from cybercriminals. The conviction rate in cybercrime cases in the state has gone up to around 75%. The state police’s additional DG (cyber-crime) Yogesh Deshmukh said, “We’re working at expanding the present infrastructure to a higher level, through multiple hi-tech training centres and advanced labs across the state,” Deshmukh said.

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