Bhubaneswar: The twin city has turned into a happy hunting ground for the looters as far as the crime statistics for 2019 released by Commissionerate Police is concerned.
The statistics revealed that the twin city experienced a significant rise in dacoity (robbery involving five or more persons), robbery, burglary and theft in 2019 as compared to 2018.
As per the statistics, 69 cases of dacoity have been registered at different police stations in the twin city in 2019. Of that, 49 were reported in Bhubaneswar while 20 were reported from the Millennium City. However, only 37 dacoity cases – 10 in Cuttack and 27 in Bhubaneswar – were recorded in 2018. The occurrences of dacoity incidents in twin city have almost doubled in 2019.
Similarly, there is around 34 per cent increase in robbery cases in 2019 as compared to the previous year. The cases increased from 282 in 2018 to 379 (266 in Bhubaneswar and 113 in Cuttack) in 2019.
The twin city also recorded 461 cases of burglary in 2019 as compared to 368 during the previous year. The Capital city witnessed 337 burglary incidents while the Silver city recorded 124 burglary cases in 2019.
Likewise, 2,548 theft cases were registered at the police stations in twin city during 2019 as against 2,142 during the previous year. Bhubaneswar witnessed around 22 per cent rise in theft cases during 2019.
The twin city police recorded 758 swindling cases under Section 420 of the IPC including cyber-fraud incidents in 2018. The number of cheating cases rose to 917 in 2019, registering an increase of around 18 per cent. Cuttack registered around 50 per cent increase in swindling cases during 2019.
Meanwhile, the Commissionerate Police managed to detect the accused only in 50 per cent of the theft and burglary cases during the period.
Similarly, rape cases in twin city rose to 215 in 2019 as against 192 in 2018, registering around 17 per cent increase. Although sexual abuse cases registered a slight decrease in the Silver city, the Capital city witnessed a rise. It registered 149 rape cases in 2019 as against 122 in 2018.
However, there is a mixed outcome when it comes to murder cases. Murder cases took a nosedive in Bhubaneswar (from 43 to 39) but increased slightly in Cuttack (from 29 to 30).