According to the data published by the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB), the financial capital of the nation has witnessed a rise in theft cases by 59%. The cases recorded of robberies, theft and rapes in Mumbai is equal to the cases recorded in Nagpur and Pune.
A senior official said that the theft cases nowadays mostly recorded are of mobile phones. On an average 260 theft cases of the cell phones were recorded every day in the year 2017-18.
“Many decades ago, theft of bicycles were the reason to rise in the number as it was the most common commodity available and now it has been replaced with mobile phones. All police stations are instructed for fair registration of offences because the stolen gadgets are used for illegal purposes.” said a retired IPS officer.
“Last year, a legislation was made in parts of the US which mandates inclusion of technology which will allow users to lock a stolen handset and make it unusable. Only such legislations in India can end cellphone theft cases.” Says retired DGP Pravin Dixit.
Murder cases in Mumbai fell by 63% IN 2017-18 as compared to 2015-16. Mumbai recorded 59 murder cases while Pune recorded the most 113 number of murder cases and Nagpur recorded 71 cases.
The data further revealed that Mumbai recorded 701 instances of rape, 2,042 cases of night break-ins and 9,897 cases of theft in the year 2017-18.
“The rise in the cases recorded is because victims come up with the confidence of reporting an offence to the police station.” an official said.
As Mumbai being the economic capital, the city has also seen a rise in numbers of economic crimes including financial frauds, cybercrimes etc.