PANAJI
The past five and a half years had nearly 18 per cent of cybercrime cases closed due to insufficient evidence, particularly in financial fraud complaints.
Goa has witnessed a worrying surge in cybercrime since 2019 with nearly 150 cases registered overall. While maximum are pertaining to financial frauds, quite a few offenses are against women and juveniles registered under the Information Technology Act.
Details tabled by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to an unstarred question show that about 27 per cent of the total cases are pending trial and there had been no convictions or acquittals during this period.
Sawant revealed on the floor of the House that the Cyber Crime Cell registered 10 cases in 2019, which increased to 24 in 2020, dropped to 20 in 2021 and surged to 51 in 2022. In 2023, there were 32 cases and January to June 15, 2024 saw 31 cases already registered, indicating a possible rise this year. Of these total cases, 98 cases are under investigation, 40 are pending trial and A-summary reports are filed in 27 cases.
The details further reveal that in the current year, three financial fraud cases exceeding Rs 1 crore have been registered while several other cases have losses pegged at Rs 7 lakhs to Rs 90 lakh.
Two major cases involving about Rs 1.18 crore and Rs 2.69 crore were registered last year while its preceding had only one case of financial fraud recorded at Rs 1 crore approx.
