Narmada: Police constable arrested for suspected cyber fraud, suspended
The Narmada district police arrested constable Lakshman Chaudhary, who was attached to the Rajpipla Cyber Crime Police station since its inception in January 2024, on the charges of forgery and framing an incorrect electronic document, while also initiating a probe into his involvement in possible cyber frauds.
An FIR was lodged against Chaudhary at Rajpipla police station late on Monday evening. Chaudhary, who has been suspended, is also facing a departmental probe.
Narmada District Superintendent of Police, Prashant Sumbe, told The Indian Express on Thursday, 'We had received complaints of some improper functioning of the official mail address of the cyber crime branch. Therefore, I had ordered (Additional Superintendent of Police) Lokesh Yadav to conduct an inquiry… It was revealed that Lakshman Chaudhary, a constable of the district police attached to the Cyber Crime police station as computer operator, had sent unauthorised emails to banks seeking information about some accounts…'
Sumbe added that as per the Information Technology Act, under cyber crime cases are booked and probed, the power to investigate cases and seek information from banks is vested with a police inspector. Sumbe said, 'According to the law, Chaudhary was not authorised to seek such information without permission from a police inspector…'
'We found that he has sent multiple emails to banks seeking information on freezing and unfreezing of some accounts, information on debit and credit transactions, details of account holders and other such sensitive financial details,' said Sumbe.
Sumbe said that after the matter came to the fore, the district police lodged an FIR against Chaudhary with a police sub-inspector standing in as a complainant.
'We have proactively lodged the FIR and initiated a probe as to what was the motive for seeking such information and if he was involved in any actual cyber crime… It is a misconduct to begin with and needs to be examined if he had malafide intentions. We will also reach out to individuals, who may have been victimised, if any such information is received during the course of the probe and counsel the individuals to lodge FIRs,' Sumbe said.
'He was arrested and released on bail as per the provisions of law but he has been asked to cooperate in the investigation,' Sumbe added.
Chaudhary has been booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 201 (public servant, responsible for preparing or translating a document or electronic record, frames an incorrect document with the intent to cause injury), 336 (forgery), and 340 (using a forged document or electronic record as genuine).
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