AP DGP Harish Kumar Gupta Launches Cybercrime Coordination Centre in Vijayawada, Announces Cyber Guard Plan
Andhra Pradesh Police is moving towards a more specialised and technology-driven approach to tackling cybercrime, with the inauguration of a new Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, or C4, in Vijayawada. The state is also preparing to establish similar facilities across Andhra Pradesh and plans to deploy 20 dedicated cyber constables in every district as part of a broader effort to strengthen its response to online fraud and other technology-enabled offences.
Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police Harish Kumar Gupta, a 1992-batch IPS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre, inaugurated the new C4 facility at the Krishnalanka police station under the NTR District Police Commissionerate on Wednesday. The centre has been developed with support from the Andhra Pradesh Police Housing Corporation and is expected to provide investigators with a more coordinated platform to track digital evidence and pursue cybercrime cases.
The launch comes at a time when cyber offences are becoming increasingly complex, with criminals relying on sophisticated digital methods, fraudulent financial transactions and rapidly changing technologies. For the state police, the challenge is no longer limited to registering complaints. Investigators also need to trace digital footprints, identify links between offenders, preserve electronic evidence and coordinate action across different jurisdictions.
20 Cyber Constables Planned for Every District
The Andhra Pradesh Police is planning a significant expansion of its dedicated cybercrime manpower. DGP Harish Kumar Gupta said similar Cyber Crime Coordination Centres would be established in other parts of the state, accompanied by specialised cybercrime teams at the district level.
Under the proposed expansion, 20 cyber constables will be appointed in every district. These personnel are expected to strengthen the frontline capacity of district police units dealing with cyber-related complaints and investigations.
The plan is aimed at creating a more structured cybercrime response rather than leaving individual police stations to handle increasingly technical cases with limited specialised support. Dedicated personnel, specialised teams and upgraded infrastructure are expected to make it easier for investigators to identify digital trails and follow leads generated during cybercrime investigations.
The state government’s broader approach also reflects the growing need for police forces to adapt to offences that can originate in one location, involve victims in another and leave electronic trails across several platforms or jurisdictions. A stronger district-level network could help investigators coordinate these cases more efficiently.
Andhra Pradesh Plans State-Level Cyber War Room
Alongside the C4 network, the Andhra Pradesh Police is also working on a proposed Cyber Guard policy designed to strengthen the state’s overall cybercrime prevention and investigation mechanism. Gupta said the initiative would form part of the state’s wider strategy to build a more coordinated response to cyber threats.
A state-level Cyber War Room is also planned under the initiative. The proposed facility is expected to provide a centralised mechanism for coordinating cybercrime-related activities and supporting district police units when cases require specialised technological expertise or wider coordination.
The Cyber Guard framework announced by the state earlier had envisaged a centralised system for improving coordination in cybercrime response and making greater use of technology during investigations. The latest announcement indicates that the state is seeking to translate that broader framework into a more structured operational system.
The emphasis on central coordination is particularly important because cybercrime investigations often extend beyond traditional geographical boundaries. A single case can involve multiple bank accounts, mobile numbers, digital platforms, devices and locations, making timely information-sharing a crucial part of the investigation.
New C4 Centre to Track Digital Trails
NTR District Police Commissioner S.V. Rajasekhar Babu said the newly inaugurated C4 centre would play an important role in analysing information from the moment a victim files an initial complaint through to the tracing of the digital trail associated with suspected offenders.
The centre is designed to help investigators examine available digital leads and connect information that may otherwise remain scattered across different stages of a case. Such a coordinated approach can be particularly useful in cyber fraud cases, where crucial evidence may need to be identified and acted upon quickly.
The objective is not simply to record complaints but to improve the investigative chain that follows. From the initial account provided by a victim to transaction details, digital communications and other electronic evidence, investigators need to establish a clear trail that can potentially lead them towards the perpetrators.
The Vijayawada police have also developed specialised cybercrime capabilities alongside the C4 facility. These include a Cyber Radar unit and a cyber laboratory, adding dedicated technological resources to the district’s existing policing infrastructure.
Together, these facilities are expected to support a more specialised approach to cybercrime investigation in Vijayawada and the surrounding areas. The combination of coordination, digital analysis and specialised personnel could prove particularly useful as the volume and complexity of online offences continue to rise.
DGP Urges Cyber Fraud Victims to Act Quickly
While announcing the new infrastructure, DGP Gupta also urged citizens who become victims of cyber fraud to report the incident immediately. Quick reporting can be especially important in cases involving financial fraud because investigators may have a limited window in which to trace or attempt to block suspicious transactions.
Victims of cybercrime can contact the national cybercrime helpline at 1930 to report financial cyber fraud. They can also register their complaints through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, which provides a dedicated mechanism for reporting cyber offences.
The police have stressed the importance of preserving and providing relevant evidence as quickly as possible. Transaction details, bank information, phone numbers, messages, screenshots and other digital records can potentially help investigators reconstruct what happened and follow the trail left by the offenders.
For victims, the message from the police is straightforward: do not wait. Reporting a cyber fraud case after a significant delay can make investigation and recovery efforts more difficult, particularly when money has already moved through multiple accounts.
Andhra Pradesh Steps Up Technology-Based Policing
The inauguration of the Vijayawada C4 centre marks another step in Andhra Pradesh’s efforts to develop specialised policing capabilities for the digital age. The proposed network of district-level centres, the deployment of 20 cyber constables per district and the planned Cyber War Room together indicate a push towards a more organised statewide cybercrime response.
The proposed Cyber Guard policy is expected to provide an overarching framework for these efforts. Rather than treating cybercrime as an isolated category of police complaints, the state is looking to create dedicated structures for prevention, detection, investigation and coordination.
For the police, this shift is increasingly necessary. Cybercriminals are constantly changing their methods, while online fraud can target large numbers of people across different parts of the country in a matter of hours. Traditional policing methods alone may not be enough to keep pace with such offences.
The new C4 centre in Vijayawada is therefore more than another police facility. It represents an attempt to bring specialised manpower, digital investigation, technology and inter-agency coordination into a single operational framework.
If the planned expansion is implemented across the state, Andhra Pradesh could develop a considerably broader district-level cybercrime network, with dedicated personnel and infrastructure closer to where complaints originate. For citizens facing online fraud and other digital offences, the effectiveness of that network will ultimately depend on how quickly complaints are acted upon and how efficiently investigators can turn digital evidence into actionable leads.
For now, the Vijayawada centre provides the starting point for that effort, while the proposed Cyber Guard policy and state-level Cyber War Room point towards a much larger cyber policing architecture for Andhra Pradesh.
