Bengal police will engage 10 constables who are trained to handle cybercrime cases in each cybercrime police station in the state.

“The director general of police, Rajeev Kumar, had recently decided to engage 10 police constables who are efficient in handling cases related to cybercrime in the cybercrime police stations of each district. The decision has been taken to expedite the investigation and early detection of such crimes,” said Pradeep Kumar Yadav, the superintendent of police of Malda.

According to police sources, there has been a steady surge in cybercrimes. Fraudsters are fleecing people on different pretexts. They are also hacking cell phones and profiles on social media, circulating morphed photos and videos to make money.

In Malda, the improvement of infrastructure has led to fast detection of cases. For example, in 2023, the cybercrime police station of the district recovered Rs 13 lakh which had been collected by fraudsters. However, in the current year, Rs 7 lakh has been recovered only in the first two months.

“The money was siphoned off by criminals from bank accounts. We managed to get the money back and handed it to the person concerned. This, however, hints that such crimes are on the rise,” said a police officer.

Those who got their money back include BJP leader Sutapa Mitra. A sum of Rs 38,500 was siphoned off from her bank account a few months ago. “I contacted the cybercrime police station and they managed to get my money back within three months,” she said.

Also, Golam Murtaza, a close associate of minister of state Tajmul Hossain, said he had got back Rs 42,000 within two weeks.

“The fraudsters obtained details of my debit card from my parents and withdrew the amount. The cybercrime police station recovered the money,” he said.

Malda police will also open a cybercrime unit in every police station in the district. Malda has 15 police stations.