Hyderabad city police on Thursday established Zonal Cyber Cells (ZCCs) in each of the commissionerate’s seven law and order zones as part of an additional effort to tackle cybercrime. The action was taken in reaction to a startling 786% increase in cybercrime cases during the previous nine years.
According to city police commissioner C V Anand, 61 highly trained officers, comprising seven inspectors, seven sub-inspectors, three head constables, thirty-six police constables, and eight house guards, have been assigned to the seven recently established ZCCs.
“Cybercrime cases in Hyderabad increased from 351 cases in 2015 to 3,111 cases in 2024. The sole Cybercrime police station (PS) is handling all major cases in the city. Law and order police stations are registering the minor cybercrime cases where the loss is below Rs 1 lakh. But due to workload and lack of skills, the investigation sometimes suffers. The ZCCs will bridge this gap,” Anand said.
Under the direction of an inspector, the ZCCs will function out of zonal DCP offices.
The ZCC or local police will start the procedure to freeze the money if the loss is less than Rs 25,000.
ZCC employees will investigate every cybercrime case with a loss of more than Rs 25,000 but less than Rs 1 lakh. The ZCC team will handle arrests and trial follow-up, while the local police will handle FIRs and documentation.
The primary Cybercrime PS will file a complaint and conduct an investigation if the loss exceeds Rs 1 lakh.
If the accused is identified, law enforcement will arrest them in situations involving abusive messages or harassment on social media. ZCC will take up the investigation if the perpetrators are unknown.
“We will analyse the performance of ZCCs for two to three years and, subsequently, they may be converted into full-fledged Zonal Cybercrime police stations,” Anand said.
In cases involving harassment or abusive communications on social media, law enforcement will arrest the accused if they are identified. In the event that the culprits are unknown, ZCC will take up the inquiry.
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