The Cyber Crime Cell of the Punjab Police, in coordination with the Punjab State Legal Services Authority, has facilitated the refund of frozen amounts to the tune of Rs 28.5 lakh in the bank accounts of cybercrime victims.
Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said the facility of the Helpline 1930 helpline was implemented by the police in 2021 to prevent financial loss to the victims.
He said that following registration of the complaint on the helpline 1930 or Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS), the money of victims got frozen in the accounts of the accused/suspects.
“To date, as many as 28,642 complaints regarding financial frauds were filed on the helpline 1930 in Punjab, acting swiftly on which the Cyber Cell froze (debit freeze/lien freeze) an amount of approximately Rs 15.5 crore, which has been lying in the banks,” he said.
The DGP said the Cyber Crime Cell approached the State Legal Services Authority to facilitate the refund to the victim accounts under section 457 of the CrPC through Lok Adalats.
He said that Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Cyber Crime V Neeraja had a meeting with Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia, executive chairman of Punjab Legal Services Authority, on December 5 and got the necessary directions issued to all district legal service authorities of Punjab on the procedure to be adopted for the refund.
Sharing more details, ADGP V Neeraja said that as a pilot project, Ludhiana Commissionerate Police on December 9, 2023, submitted 36 case applications on complaints reported on 1930 helpline for refund to the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ludhiana, in the Lok Adalat, of which 33 applications were approved by the court and Rs 28.5 lakh was ordered to be released to the accounts of the victims from the concerned banks.
“More applications for refund of the frozen amount of about 6 lakh in Ludhiana and Rs 11 from Mohali and Rs 15 lakh are under consideration,” she said.
The ADGP said that other districts have also started this process and many applications to release the frozen amount on the lines of the pilot project are under consideration and will be processed very soon.
The national helpline 1930 and reporting platform is the Ministry of Home Affairs’s initiative.
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First published on: 19-12-2023 at 18:21 IST