Loan sharking scam: Will amend law for stricter action, says Dilip Walse Patil

Intensifying action against the operators of instant loan apps involved in a largescale racket and other cyber fraudsters following middayrsquos series the state home minister held a second meeting on Wednesday and discussed amendments to the existing law for stricter actionThe existing provisions of the law need to be amended to curb cyber crime as well as to punish the perpetrators severely The home minister also directed officials to submit a proposal in this regardrdquo read a post on the official Twitter account of the home ministerrsquos office HMO originally tweeted in MarathiGovernment officials senior officers of the Mumbai police and the Maharashtra policersquos cyber cell and Director General of Police Rajnish Seth attended the meeting called by Home Minister Dilip Walse PatilHome Minister Dilip Walse Patil at a meeting with senior state and city police officers and government officialsPatil reviewed the measures that need to be taken to curb the rising cyber crime in the state He directed to formulate ldquoa comprehensive policy to curb the ongoing cyber crime financial crime fraud through social media and online as well as to enhance the skills of cyber policerdquoThe minister also discussed measures to effectively publicise the helpline numbers for reporting cyber crimes ldquoPeople should be made aware of the measures being taken by the government and of the stateoftheart technology and systemsrdquo he said at the meetingOn vacancies in deptDuring the meeting officials also brought up the vacancies in the department and the home minister ensured to address them ldquoThe home minister directed that the state police force has been provided with extensive equipment to detect cyber crime which should be fully utilised and immediate action should be taken to fill the vacancies in the departmentrdquo the HMO tweetedAnother tweet read ldquoA cyber police station has been set up in the state to curb cyber crimes He opined that efforts should be made to increase the conviction rate along with effective implementation of cyber law through this mediumrdquoHe also directed that cyber officers should be given comprehensive cyber training with a view to implement preventive measuresOn hateful postsTalking about the contents spread on social media to incite communal violence Patil said at the meeting ldquoRelevant texts need to be removed from cyberspace so that they can be stopped immediately if there are any incidents that provoke religious sentiments and endanger social healthrdquoAnother HMO tweeted stated that Patil has directed to develop guidelines to create firewalls capable of preventing cyber attacksPatil had earlier met with midday journalists following this paperrsquos series of reports on the loan app racket and directed the cyber police to register an umbrella FIR for all the cases reported across the stateThereafter the initial probe by the police showed that the real loan sharks are operating out of Nepal and the money extorted from the borrowers is channelled to China Further investigation is underway to establish the links police had told middayTweet talkHome Ministerrsquos Officemaharashtra_hmo lsquoA cyber police station has been set up in the state to curb cyber crimes He opined that efforts should be made to increase the conviction rate along with effective implementation of cyber law through this mediumrsquo