Maharashtra to create integrated cyber platform to tackle online crime: Dy CM Devendra Fadnavis

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The Maharashtra government was working to create a "cyber platform" for the detection of cyber crime, state Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis told the Legislative Council here on Wednesday.

He was responding to a calling attention motion moved by Congress's Satej Patil about the rising cyber crime and cyber security issues.

"We are creating a huge cyber platform, and a tender has been recently floated. This will be a very dynamic platform. All financial institutions including banks, NBFCs, all social media sites will be brought together on this platform. All these will be put onboard and integrated with the latest software which will create a very fast response time," Fadnavis said.

The outline of the proposed platform was presented before Union home minister Amit Shah during a meeting of state home ministers and the Union home ministry asked all the states to create such integrated platforms, he said.

2021 ganja seizure in Mumbai: Inter-state drug network kingpin, his aide nabbed from Odisha

Meanwhile, Mumbai police has arrested the alleged kingpin of an inter-state drug syndicate and his aide from Odisha in connection with a two-year-old case in which ganja worth Rs 3.85 crore was seized in the metropolis, an official said.

The Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) of the Mumbai crime branch arrested the alleged kingpin, Laxmikant alias Laxmibhai Pradhan, and his aide Bidyadhar Pradhan, both facing other criminal cases, from Golanthara in Odisha's Ganjam district on Saturday, he said.

With this, the police have so far arrested five persons in connection with the drug seizure case, the official said on Tuesday.

The ANC's Ghatkopar unit busted an interstate drug syndicate by arresting three persons with ganja (marijuana) weighing 1,820 kg and valued at Rs 3.85 crore in December 2021.

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During investigation, it was revealed the contraband was procured from Odisha.

An offence under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act was registered against them.

The police identified the kingpin of the syndicate and launched a search for him in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. He was found to be moving in different cities of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to evade arrest, said the official.

After months of search, officials of the ANC's Ghatkopar unit got a specific tip-off that Laxmibhai Pradhan and his aide Bidyadhar were in Odisha.

Accordingly, a team was dispatched from Mumbai to the eastern state and the duo was nabbed, the official said.

Both were brought to Mumbai on transit remand.

An in-depth investigation was underway to trace other members of the syndicate, he said.

Laxmibhai Pradhan has several criminal cases pending against him, including murder and those under the Arms Act, in different parts of Odisha. Bidyadhar Pradhan, too, faces three criminal cases, the official said. (With inputs from PTI)