However, it has no complaints to act on."To date none has come forward to complain about any crime. I think people are unaware of our existence," said deputy general of police (Economic Crimes) HC Kishore Chandra. "As far as we are concerned we are well ahead in tackling cyber crime compared to other states and even the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)," he added.The special cell is under the Corps of Detectives (CoD), a refurbished crime branch of the state. Chandra said the special cell, which he heads, has a "multi-disciplinary group" that consists of police personnel and IT experts.

The structure of the cell will be kept flexible to suit the need of the hour. "We need the best of police officers who are capable of adaptability to the changing times. A little knowledge of hardware and software is necessary so that they are not fooled by the cyber criminals easily," he said.The cell will book cases under the Indian Penal Code and, if need be, seek advice from experts from the IT industry and research and development organisations, Chandra said.

It is already interacting with experts for working out the modalities to improve the present set-up. Besides cyber fraud, the cell is expected to look into tampering, manipulation, pornography, e-mail abuse, gambling, interception and alteration of computer data, time theft, hacking and sabotage of hardware and software, besides cyber squatting.

-- India Abroad News Service