Nod for cyber police division in Kozhikode

The Home department has accorded sanction for a cyber police division in Kozhikode.

A meeting of senior police officials recently had arrived at the the decision after considering the increasing number of cases reported at the Cyber police station in Kozhikode, especially those involving artificial intelligence and deep fake technology.

The new division, which will start functioning in a week, will comprise a 30member team led by an Assistant Commissioner under District Police Chief (Kozhikode City) Rajpal Meena. The cyber police will be an additional police division in the city besides Feroke, Town and Medical College divisions.

First case

It was in Kozhikode that the first case involving deep fake technology in the State was reported. A retired Central government employee was duped using a video of his friend seeking financial aid over a WhatsApp call.

The Cyber police had successfully tracked down the four culprits in the case and recovered the lost money. Similarly, the cyber police could trap the accused and recover the money in a case in which a homemaker lost ₹19 lakh from her bank account. They are currently investigating a case in which a noted business man from Kozhikode was duped of ₹3 crore over crypto currency. At present, the Cyber police stations in Vadakara and Kozhikode city have one inspector, a sub inspector, an ASI, four senior CPOs and two CPOs.

Under the new system, the team under the Assistant Commissioner will consist of three inspectors, four sub inspectors, one ASI, seven senior CPOs, 11 CPOs and two head constables.