NEW DELHI: Delhi Police have arrested 284 people and taken legal action against around 2900 individuals, achieving 200 per cent success during the second phase of Operation CyHawk, a special drive against cybercrime, claimed delhi police officials during a media briefing.
Speaking about the operation, Joint Commissioner of Police (IFSO) Rajneesh Gupta said, “The first phase of Operation CyHawk, led by the respected Delhi CP Satish Golcha, was conducted… This significantly reduced the number of calls coming in at 1930 daily. From an average of approximately 3,600, the number of calls dropped to 2,400…” He added that due to the success of the first phase, a second version of the operation was planned. “Based on this success, a second version of the operation was planned, and on December 10th and 11th, a forty-eight-hour operation was conducted, involving 5,000 police personnel from all cyber police stations across Delhi,” Gupta said.
According to him, the operation led to large-scale action across the national capital. “After two days of operation, we rounded up 7,500 people across Delhi. 284 people were arrested… Notices were issued to 1736 people. In total, legal action was taken against 2882 people. This action represents a 200% increase from the previous one,” he said.
Gupta further said that the operation also helped link earlier cases and register fresh ones. “Additionally, linkages were established for 228 previous FIRs, and 392 new FIRs were registered,” he added.
Joint Commissioner of Police, Southern range, SK Jain, who was also present during the briefing, said, “Operation CyHawk 2.0 was launched within three weeks of the first phase. It was much broader than the first. It was much more precise, and a lot of groundwork was done.” He added that the police used data analysis to identify key locations and suspects.
“We conducted clustering and hotspot intelligence, first analysing the original account. After proper verification, we conducted raids not only in Delhi but also outside in 10 states. We sent our teams to Odisha and Kerala,” he said.
According to Jain, the scale of action have been ramped up in comparison to the first phase. “Legal action has been taken against almost 2,900 people. This time, we’ve achieved more than 200 per cent success. Similarly, the number of detentions has increased by 160 per cent,” he said. He added that the number of case linkages had increased, saying, “If we combine the linkages in the FIRs, both old and new, there’s a 125 per cent increase since the last operation.” “We’ve also worked out several cases of investment fraud, with amounts starting from as simple as 50,000,” he added.
The Joint Commissioner of Police, Southern range, also pointed out that the Delhi Police is also focusing on public awareness to prevent cybercrime.
“We are conducting major awareness campaigns among the people. Recently, a major cultural programme was organised at Jashn-e-Rakta. There too, a public awareness campaign was organised, including street plays, painting competitions, online quizzes, and band displays, to attract people and make them aware,” he said.
Earlier, back on November 20, Delhi Police apprehended more than 700 cybercriminals in a massive crackdown carried out jointly by district police units and the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit.
According to officials, the multi-district 48-hour operation, codenamed ‘Cyber Hawk’, targeted organised cyber fraud networks involved in cheating, phishing, fake customer care scams, investment frauds and digital payment thefts.
Preliminary investigations uncovered suspicious and fraudulent transactions worth around Rs 1,000 crore, pointing to a large-scale ecosystem of cyber offenders operating from multiple locations.
Teams conducted raids across Delhi and neighbouring regions, detaining suspects, seizing digital devices, recovering forged documents, and identifying bank accounts used to syphon off victims’ money.
(With inputs from ANI)
