‘Some victims moving towards suicide’: Cyber criminals stole Rs 107 crore in 18 months, Chhattisgarh Home Minister tells Assembly

Soni said, “Thousands are being cheated. Some victims are moving towards suicide.”

The data presented showed that Raipur alone accounted for Rs 47.57 crore — the highest among Chhattisgarh’s 33 districts. It was followed by Bilaspur with Rs 10.20 crore, and Durg with Rs 9.65 crore. “I believe the amount in Raipur is more than Rs 47.57 crore. Is the police competent to handle cyber crimes? Also, you have said that bank officials are also involved in such crimes — so has any action been taken on them?” Soni asked.

In response, Home Minister Sharma said, “The work of empanelling a cyber expert is underway. But the concept of cyber commandos has been implemented. The cyber police units in each district have received training.”

Detailing the steps taken by the government, the Home department said: “For the prevention of cyber crimes, one state cyber police station and five range cyber police stations are operating at the range level. Cyber cells are also operating at the district level and approval for cyber police stations has been received in some districts.”

It added that a cyber forensic lab equipped with modern tools is functional at the police headquarters in Raipur for testing digital evidence collected during investigations.

“For the development of cyber crime research capacity, police officers/employees are being trained from time to time on complex subjects like dark web/crypto currency through the country’s prestigious institutions like C-DAC, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel National Police Academy. One gazetted officer and five other officers from the state have been trained under Cyber Commando Scheme to fight cyber crime,” the department said.

It also said that SIM cards and IMEI numbers involved in cyber crimes are being blocked, and awareness programmes are being conducted at the state and district levels.

On efforts to refund stolen money, the department said: “The National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) is operated to provide the facility of immediate registration of complaints to the victims of cyber crime. The cyber crime helpline number 1930 is operating 24/7 in the state. Suspicious transactions are put on hold by trained police officers/employees working in the call center by establishing direct coordination with the nodal officers of banks, e-wallets and payment gateways. In the registered cases of cyber crime, the process of refund of money is done as per the orders of the… courts. In the period from January 1, 2024 to June 20, 2025, an amount of Rs 3.69 crore has been successfully refunded to the victims in the state.”

Responding to a separate question by BJP MLA from Durg City, Gajendra Yadav, Sharma said, “In the state, 67,389 complaints have been received on the NCRP (from January 2023 to June 2024). As per the portal, the stolen amount is approximately Rs 791 crore. In this, 21,195 cases have been solved, in which 1,820 victims got their money back.”