Hyderabad, April 26 (IANS) The Telangana Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB) conducted ‘Operation Crackdown 2.0’ across the state to monitor cyber offenders who were arrested in the past to prevent repeat offences and continued involvement in illegal activities, a senior official said on Sunday.

The TGCSB, in coordination with law & order police, launched the crackdown on Saturday.

During 2024–2025, a total of 3,567 cybercrime accused were arrested across Telangana. From this pool of 614 accused who are residents of Telangana, selected accused persons, linked to major financial cyber frauds and with multiple crime links, were shortlisted for intensive verification.

According to TGCSB Director Shikha Goel, 335 persons were verified. These accused are linked to 480 cases in Telangana and 1,233 cases across India. Among them, 218 have been traced. Some continue to reside at the same location, while others have relocated for employment.

She said that 115 persons are untraced and efforts are continuing to trace them. Three persons are reported deceased. During the verification, it came to light that a CSEAM case accused, Prasad Kumar, 30, is currently residing in Nepal.

In a synchronised statewide drive, 300 teams from the TGCSB and Law & Order Police Stations carried out simultaneous field verifications across multiple locations to track the accused person’s present residence, profession, current standing, etc.

This operation is the first extensive post-arrest monitoring initiative undertaken in cybercrimes by the Telangana Police.

The drive identified accused people, and detailed data has been compiled for further analysis and strategic follow-up. In cases indicating repeat involvement or suspicious behaviour, strict surveillance measures have been initiated, including the opening of suspect sheets as per police standing orders.

According to the Director, this is the first coordinated, simultaneous effort to verify such individuals and share their criminal history with their respective jurisdictional police stations, thereby strengthening coordination between police stations and enabling effective monitoring and surveillance.

The operation was carried out to identify the present details of the arrested accused based on five strategic pillars – physical verification, intelligence gathering, network mapping, legal compliance, and deterrence.

Goel said that through this operation, they were sending a strong message of zero tolerance towards repeat offenders.

–IANS

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