Cops flail to catch a cyber thief

MUMBAI, AUGUST 8: Matunga resident Shripad Jathar (47) and the city police share a common dilemma: how to register a case of cyber crime ...

MUMBAI, AUGUST 8: Matunga resident Shripad Jathar (47) and the city police share a common dilemma: how to register a case of cyber crime in the realm of virtual reality. As the Matunga police aimlessly try to log into solutions that can enforce rising cyber crime, Jathar’s attempts to register the first case against hackers on July 13 have come to naught till date.

Jathar, who approached the Matunga police with documentary proof and the hackers’ identities, says he asked VSNL for help when he found that his time on the Net had plummeted from 18 hours when he had last used it, to nil the next day.

The VSNL, after identifying the hackers, had also provided Jathar with their phone-numbers; while one belongs to a company that deals with computers in Kurla, the other is a private number in Santacruz (E).

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“I approached the Matunga police but they merely took my letter without even registering a non-cognisable offence,” Jathar told Express Newsline.The detection officer of the Matunga Police, Sub-Inspector Shivaji Kadam, told Express Newsline: “We can book a thief for stealing movable property under Section 379 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), but we are still unsure if hacking someone’s Internet account can be classified as theft, as bills dealing with cyber crime are yet to be passed by Parliament.”

He says the unique case was referred to a police prosecutor for legal advice a week ago. “Though bills on cyber crime are pending, we shall interrogate the hackers for further investigations,” he adds.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone IV) R G Kadam states: “I am not aware of this particular case,but since there are so many victims of Internet crime, I think action can be taken under Section 379 (theft of movable property) of the IPC read with the Electricity Act (stealing some one else’s electricity connection) as electricity is not movable property. But in the absence of cyber laws, I shall have to study the case before taking action.”Acting Chairperson and Managing Director of VSNL, Amitabh Kumar, reasons that the closest the IPC comes to booking hackers is Section 420 (cheating) and Section 416 (impersonation) “If a hacker consumes say Rs 1,000 worth of some one else’s Net time, it’s cheating and monetary robbery. He’s also impersonating the victim by using his Net password.

“As the police don’t know what action to initiate against hackers, I shall write to the police commissioner asking for directions. Apart from the Matunga hacking case, we have traced 19 other hackers but police complaints are yet to be lodged against them,” Kumar adds.

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As the debate continues, subscribers remainwithout any recourse since VSNL’s crackdown on hackers remains without sting. Jathar suggests that police should either confiscate hackers computers or VSNL clip their connections. Kumar explains that VSNL cannot do this in the absence of laws. Founder member of the Internet Users Club of India says,“If VSNL cuts off a hacker’s connection, he can simply go to a public Cyber Cafe and execute his crime.”