Patna: Bihar police are preparing to enhance their investigative capabilities with modern technology to expedite criminal investigations. Investigating officers (IOs) will soon be equipped with laptops and smartphones to collect digital and technical evidence in cognizable offences. Once implemented, Bihar will arguably be the first state in India to provide such a facility, according to senior police officers.
ADG of the Economic Offenses Unit (EOU), Nayyar Hasnain Khan, said, “The police headquarters has sent a proposal to the state govt to equip our IOs with smartphones and laptops. This will enable officers to collect digital evidence at the crime spot and extract data from digital devices. The proposal is in the final stage of policy formulation. Bihar will be the first state in the country to take the initiative. This will bring more transparency to the investigation and increase the acceptability of the evidence.”

In 2023, the Bihar govt established 44 cyber police stations, with deputy superintendents of police (DSPs) appointed as station heads. The EOU, based in Patna, has been training officers in technical aspects, cyber research, digital forensics and evidence collection.
A senior official said in 2023-2024, 2,589 officers were trained in 64 sessions. “The aim is to train all IOs and data entry operators in the state for future technical analysis and research of digital evidence,” he added.
The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA), 2023, has recognized electronic and digital records — such as emails, server logs, and smartphones — as primary evidence. Police are now required to use electronic means to gather evidence, with detailed procedures for its collection and presentation in court outlined in the new law.
“To familiarize all police officers with these new provisions of BSA, approximately 25,000 officers, from sub-inspector to additional director general (ADG) level, have been trained in five different phases in June 2024,” the ADG added. Officers were trained in scientific evidence collection, crime scene documentation, and using open source intelligence tools to support online investigations and operations, he said.

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