Robberies in local trains in the city have increased by almost seven times in 2012, when compared to 2011.
According to statistics, the total number of registered robbery cases has seen a steep rise from 63 cases in 2011 to 423 in 2012.
Statistics also revealed a steep rise in the total value of the items robbed in 2012. Accordingly, valuables worth `1,40,86,600 were robbed in 2012, which is much more than the total amount robbed in 2010 and 2011, which stood at `19,55,621.
The recovered amount in 2012 was pegged at `59,77,567, while the total amount recovered in 2010 and 2011 was `9,51,994.
Citing the possible reason for increase in the total number of robbery cases, GRP assistant police commissioner, crime, S.G. Neklikar said, “Chain snatching cases and other robbery cases were registered as theft cases in 2011. But on the instructions of our former additional director general Shrikant Savarkar, we started registering these cases as robberies in 2012.”
When asked whether the railway police was indulging in burking (registering dacoity as robberies, robberies as thefts, and thefts as missing articles), IPS turned social activist, Y.P. Singh said, “When chain snatching takes the victim by surprise, it is only registered as theft. It is only when the victim resists that the chain snatching case is registered as a robbery case.”
When asked how the police benefit in registering robbery cases as thefts, Mr Singh said, “Registration of more robbery cases puts the police performance in a negative light.”