Google's free Wi-fi now at 400 Indian railway stations
New Delhi, June 7: Google has successfully completed its public Wi-Fi programme to provide India's railway stations with free internet, with Dibrugarh in Assam becoming the 400th station to go live on Thursday.
Google had, in collaboration with Railtel, launched free Wi-Fi services to 400 railway stations as a key initiative under the government's Digital India programme in 2016.
"Bringing high speed connectivity to millions of Indians across railway stations has been an incredible journey and underscores the importance of investing in public Wi-Fi as a crucial step in getting high quality internet to everyone in India," K. Suri, Director, Partnership India, Next Billion Users, Google India, said in a statement.
"With over eight million monthly unique users connecting to the network, this is a lighthouse project for India and every growing economy that is looking to bring the benefit of connectivity to everyone in their country," he added.
Offered as a free utility service under the brand name "RailWire", users have 30 minutes of free access to the internet, in which they can on an average consume 350 MB of data per session.
"Railway stations are a microcosm that is India and creating a digital inclusion platform is in line with the vision of our Prime Minister and Digital India initiatives of the Ministry of Railways," said K. Manohar Raja, Executive Director-Enterprise Business at RailTel.
Over 35 per cent of users on the network are first time Wi-Fi users. Interestingly, over 50 per cent of users accessing the internet multiple times a day highlight that they work to pursue their occupation from the train stations.
Within the first year of the project, 100 of the busiest railway stations across India were made internet-friendly.
In the last year and a half, 300 new stations were added across the length and breadth of the country, the statement said.
As part of the Next Billion Users initiative, Google is now building on the success of RailTel project to expand the public Wi-Fi outside train stations, into Indian cities and around the world.
Google Station, the public Wi-Fi platform, that amplifies Google's vision to bring the best in class Wi-Fi experience to more places, is now also live in Pune.
RailTel is exploring sustainable ways to provide Wi-Fi across all stations on Indian Railways and also spread high-speed connectivity to homes by the collaborative entrepreneurship model of RailWire, the statement said.
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Bank account in Ramgarh tracked for fraudulent fund transactions across 24 states, 4 arrested
Ramgarh (Jharkhand) (PTI): Jharkhand police on Thursday said it has unearthed a network of interstate cyber frauds and arrested four miscreants for fraudulent transactions through a bank account in Ramgarh district after complaints of 274 suspected transactions in 24 states.
The states where complaints for fraudulent transactions were registered included Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
The action followed inputs received through 'Samanvaya portal', a centralised, web-based platform launched by the Union Home Ministry to curb cybercrime.
"We arrested four cyber miscreants after a current account with Kuju (Ramgarh) branch of the State Bank of India was found to have registered suspected financial transactions in 24 states with the help of the Pratibimba portal of the Home Ministry through the Samanvaya portal," Ramgarh Superintendent of Police Mukesh Kumar Lunayat said.
During the probe, police found that the account was opened under the MSME Udyam Registration scheme in the name of Shree Ganesh Enterprises, he said.
The account had been linked to as many as 274 complaints from different states related to cyber fraud and illegal fund transfers.
The registered proprietors of the enterprise were identified as Rahul Gupta (37), Ravi Kumar Verma (34), and Ajay Sharma (33), all residents of Ramgarh district, a statement from the Ramgarh police said.
During interrogation, Rahul Gupta and Ravi Kumar Verma revealed that they had opened multiple current accounts at the behest of Ritesh Agrawal alias Munna (40) and Sonu Kumar Jha (34).
They admitted receiving Rs 1.2 lakh in exchange for facilitating the opening of these accounts.
"The accused further confessed to sharing OTPs, activating mobile banking services, and handing over control of the accounts to the main operators through WhatsApp and Telegram groups. These accounts were then allegedly used to route fraudulent transactions.
Police said mobile data analysis of the accused led to the recovery of crucial digital evidence, including details of SIM cards, bank accounts, passbooks, ATM cards, QR code scanners, Aadhaar cards, and PAN cards shared through messaging platforms.
A total of four accused have been arrested so far and sent to judicial custody.
A case has been registered at the Cyber Crime Police Station under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023 and Sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
Further investigation is underway, the police said.
