Kerala police will soon set up a cybercrime investigation unit to coordinate Web-based investigations and provide the services of technical experts, said Pinarayi Vijayan, chief minister of India's Kerala state. The proposed unit will be the first police force in all of India to open such a department, which will streamline cyber investigations and recruit technical experts for the purpose.
He was speaking on Saturday at the inauguration of the Hac'KP 2021 International Hackathon organized by Cyberdome, an online hackathon to build the software needed to execute police operations on the dark web.
Chief Minister Mr. Vijayan officially launched the hackathon software 'Grapnel 1.0', a software designed to demystify the dark web and uncover crimes that take place on such platforms and are often difficult to detect. The software is expected to facilitate criminal investigations, including sex crimes, the drug and arms trade and financial fraud. In general, it is difficult to detect criminal activity on the dark web," he said. "
"The new software developed as a solution to this problem is a source of pride not only for the police, but also for the country itself. "The only way to eradicate cybercrime is to make people aware of it," he noted. "
The chief minister presented Cyberdome medals of excellence to the hackathon winners and state honors to the best police stations.Thampanoor, Irinjalakuda and Kunnamangalam police stations were named the best police stations.
Transport Minister Antony Raju, State Police Commissioner Anil Kant, Assistant Police Officers Manoj Abraham and Vijay S. Sakhare, Deputy Inspector General of Police P. Prakash, Senior Vice President of Paytm Payments Bank Jatinder Thakar and Managing Director of State Bank of India (SBI) Indranil Bhanja participated in the meeting.