Hyderabad: In another step towards combating cybercrime, Hyderabad city police on Thursday launched Zonal Cyber Cells (ZCCs) across all seven law and order zones in the commissionerate. The move comes in response to an alarming 786% surge in cybercrime cases over the past nine years.City police commissioner C V Anand said that 61 specially trained personnel have been deployed across the seven newly launched ZCCs, including seven inspectors, seven sub-inspectors, three head constables, 36 police constables and eight home guards.“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.The ZCCs is headed by an inspector and will operate from zonal DCP offices.In cases where the loss is below Rs 25,000, local police or ZCC will initiate the process to freeze the amount. Investigation of all cybercrime cases where loss is above Rs 25,000 and below Rs 1 lakh will be done by ZCC staff. FIRs and documentation will be done by local police, but arrests and follow-up of trials will be by the ZCC team. If the loss is Rs 1 lakh or above, the main Cybercrime PS will register the case and investigate.In social media harassment or offensive message cases, if the accused are known, law and order police will arrest them. If the offenders are unknown, ZCC will take up the probe.“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.Apart from investigations and arrests, ZCC will also take up awareness work in the zone.
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