City Police Commissioner Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal on Friday, said the police are taking efforts to make Chennai city much safer.
Mr. Aggarwal was handing over 1,193 mobile phones that were recovered, to their owners who had complained of either theft or their devices missing. These mobile phones were traced using IMEI numbers by Cyber Crime Cells which have been set up recently in 12 police districts of the city.
“In Chennai city, whatever a complaint is received or whatever mode it has come through, we take immediate action. We are trying to make the city much safer. It is already considered one of the safest cities in the country. We are making continuous efforts to retain that place and improve on our achievement,” said Mr. Aggarwal.
Taking into account the increasing number of cyber crimes reported these days, Mr. Aggarwal said earlier, a Cyber Crime Cell was functioning only from the Central Crime Branch (CCB). People who had any complaint relating to a cyber crime had to come all the way to the CCB office from any part of the city. Now, Cyber Crime Cells have been set up in all 12 police districts in the city and are functioning under the direct supervision of respective Deputy Commissioners. He added that the Cyber Crime Cells have received 600 complaints and 50% of the complaints were solved. Over ₹18 lakh has been returned to the complainants so far.
“Many had lodged complaints on thefts of their mobile phones, or missing devices. People were upset after losing their mobile phones as so much crucial data, including personal pictures, are stored on them. Using the Cyber Crime Cells, all complaints of snatching/ missing mobiles phones were taken for investigation. We have followed all those complaints. Using IMEI numbers, we have tracked phones and recovered 1,193 so far. The financial value of those recovered items could be ₹1.2 crore,” he said.
“Though mobile phone missing is not a crime and it is not a police subject, we are ready to serve the public by tracing them using IMEI numbers. A few of them were recovered from the city itself, while the remaining mobile phones were recovered from other districts and other States,” Mr. Aggarwal said.
The complainants who received their mobile phones thanked the police for their efforts. D. Anandha Priya, a college student, from Korattur said, “I was upset when I lost my mobile phone which was presented to me by my father. I was emotionally attached. The police promptly investigated and traced my phone. I could not believe that I got my phone back,” she said.
B. Kamatchi, an employee of a public sector undertaking lost her mobile phone while travelling in a call taxi in January. She had bought the high-end mobile phone by raising a loan and had to pay EMIs even after it went missing. “Police found that the call taxi driver was using my mobile phone. With the help of the police, I got back my phone,” she said.
EOM
