Online fraudsters dupe retired govt employee of Rs10 lakh
PK Jaiswar
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, August 19
A retired government employee was duped by unknown online fraudsters on the pretext of investment. He was duped of around Rs 10 lakh by the swindlers.
He filed a complaint with the DGP, Commissioner of Police, Amritsar and the cyber cell in May this year. However, the police was yet to file an FIR in this connection.
“I hoped that the police would have taken prompt action by registering an FIR and identifying the suspects who had apparently duped a number of persons like me by posing as investment firm owners,” said the complainant while wishing not to be named. He had retired from the agriculture department last year and got retirement funds. The accused had approached him after he withdrew the amount which he had invested in the stock market earlier.
His is not the only case. Many other complaints filed by the residents have been lying with the cyber cell. If sources in the cyber cell are to be believed, there are around 200 complaints pending with it.
The cyber cell was recently converted into a cyber police station for addressing the pendency and carrying out proper and timely investigations.
PRELIMINARY PROBE TO BE DONE IN 14 DAYS
The Government of India has recently implemented three new criminal laws including Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam replacing old laws like IPC, CrPC and Indian Evidence Act, respectively. Under these laws, an FIR has to be registered within three days of complaint while preliminary probe will have to be completed within 14 days. — Rajbir Kaur, SHO, Cyber police station
In a significant move, the Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab, directed the police authorities to complete the preliminary probe within two weeks after registering an FIR within three days of receiving the complaint.
Earlier, it used to take around 40 days before registering an FIR in case of cyber frauds.
“The Government of India has recently implemented three new criminal laws including Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam replacing old laws like IPC, CrPC and Indian Evidence Act, respectively. Under these laws, an FIR has to be registered within three days of complaint while preliminary probe will have to be completed within 14 days,” said Rajbir Kaur, SHO, cyber police station.
She added that they were making efforts for speedy disposal of complaints by registering FIRs and finishing the probe on time.
Nevertheless, sources said that with limited manpower, they were struggling to complete investigations within the stipulated time. “We need digital records and it is a time consuming process as we have to ask for the records from the departments concerned, including banks for details. It takes time,” they said.
