State CID, city cops’ data varies by 30%
The state police’s survey on one of the most notorious street crimes — chain-snatching — in Mumbai, contradicts that of the city police’s findings.
The state criminal investigation department (CID), which compiles the report on crimes in Maharashtra, in their latest report, claimed that chain-snatching incidents in Mumbai decreased by 67.8 per cent during 2012, while the Mumbai police claimed that it had dropped by 30 per cent.
According to the CID, a total of 574 incidents of chain-snatching were reported in the Mumbai commissionerate during the year 2012. With this, there has been a drop of 67.8 per cent when compared to the total 1,780 incidents reported in the year 2011.
However, shockingly, the Mumbai police’s record states that the dip in this crime is just around 25 to 30 per cent. The city police’s statistics reveal that as many as 1,227 incidents of chain-snatching were registered in the year 2012 — a drop of 439 cases, when compared to 1,666 cases in 2011.
The city police has been struggling to curb chain-snatching incidents for the last few years. “All possible measures have been taken to stop the crime. We have started booking chain-snatchers for robbery instead of theft cases, so that stringent MCOCA can be slapped against them,” said a senior officer from the Central region.
When asked about the discrepancy, CID chief additional DG S.P. Yadav said, “The figures are absolutely right, but since several units in the state started registering snatching incidents as robbery and sometimes as dacoity since 2010, the figures might seem slightly different. Earlier, chain-snatching offences were registered only as theft cases. Since snatching cases are now registered as robbery, the total number of robbery cases in the state has increased tremendously.”
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