On 'marathon mission', Uttarakhand cyber cop goes to 72 cities in 78 days

DEHRADUN: A 49-year-old head constable of the Uttarakhand cyber police, Swadesh Kumar Rai, travelled to 72 cities and towns in 16 states in a span of 78 days almost non-stop, in a marathon exercise to carry out verification of suspects whose names had emerged during the investigation of certain cyber-crime cases lodged in the state.

Rai, who has been with the state cyber police cell for the past four years, began his journey on Aug 20, covering cities in all directions of the country - from Mumbai to Kapurthala in Punjab to Barmer in Rajasthan, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, and the Sundarbans in West Bengal.

"I was given the task and volunteered to complete it in one go," Rai said, adding that the task involved carrying out verification of suspects whose names had come up during the probe of over 20 cases conducted by four investigation officers, and serve notices to some of them.

Rai said his first stop was Ghaziabad in UP. "I visited many cities across 16 states, including some near international land and sea borders, taking various modes of transport - bus, train, boats, cycle, and sometimes, even on foot. I went to Surat in UP, Murshidabad, and Nadia in West Bengal, and Tirupattur, Coimbatore, and Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu, to name a few," added Rai, who hails from UP's Balia.

During his journey, which concluded in Morena, Madhya Pradesh, on Nov 5, he verified 61 suspects and served notices to 15 of them. Recalling the challenges he had to face, Rai said, "At some places, I faced connectivity issues and at many, those of language. Due to lack of adequate transport facilities in some places, I had to spend several nights in railway stations. In language- related issues, I sought help from the local police and individuals to convey my message to the people concerned."

When asked about the decision to send only one individual for this task, a police officer told TOI that "Rai was sent since he volunteered for the job and also because there was staff shortage in the department."

On why a personnel from the department had to be deputed for the exercise, instead of requesting local police to carry out the verification, Ankush Mishra, deputy superintendent of police (state cyber police cell), said, "Such verification process is part of the probe and is needed to be done by the officers of the concerned state police and that, too, by being there in person."


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