Gurugram: Crime cases in Gurugram have seen a 35 per cent decline till August 31, 2020, as compared to the same period of the previous year due to the spread of the Covid-19 virus and the lockdown.
This year a significent drop was noticed in the number of crime cases, the police said.
A total of 3,532 cases have been reported in the city over the eight months of the current year. The figure was 5,450 during the same period in 2019, according to official data.
Reported cases of several crimes which include murder, rape, kidnapping, dowry death, snatching, robbery, burglary, vehicle theft, molestation, cheating, dacoity including IT Act, Arms Act, NDPS Act and Foreigner Act.
Police said the reason behind the drop in the crime strict curbs on public activities were in place throughout the last few months amid the coronavirus pandemic.
However, during the lockdown, when all other crimes had dipped to almost zero, there was a rise in cyber crime, crime related to the NDPS Act and crimes against women and children.
In cyber crime cases the criminals are targeting the elderly, women and children.
The main modus operandi seems to be cyber attackers pretending to be bank officials making calls or sending emails or messages to people, asking them for their account numbers, credit or debit card numbers, CVV, OTP among others, the police said.
Till August 31, 2020, a total of 135 cases of IT Act have been registered. In 2019 during the same time period, the figure stood at 88.
“On average, we receive 7 to 10 complaints per day. Fraudsters operate from far off places such as Mewat in Haryana, Bharatpur in Rajasthan and Mathura in Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. They also change the phone numbers which are obtained using fictitious names,” said a senior official of the city police.
The cases of crime against women have also reported some hike as this year till August 31 around 143 cases of molestation cases have been reported as compared to the previous which was at 133.
Moreover, during the first eight-month around 133 cases were registered under the POCSO Act as compared to 115 previous years in the same period. In the same period number of rape come down to 57 from 78 last years.
He said during the lockdown all kinds of crime come down, however, cases of Arms Act and NDPS Act increase. This year police have registered a number of 210 cases of Arms Act and in the previous year, the figure was 185. Also, in 2019 around 124 cases of NDPS had been registered till August 31 this year in the same period the figure reached at 160 which registered at multiple police stations.
“The online fraudsters come with various ways to cheat people during the lockdown. It started with donations to PMcares fund, lucrative offers on OLX, Covid-19 testing and home delivery of liquor,” said, Nitika Gahlaut Deputy Commissioner (Headquarters) of Gurugram police.
“The only way to avoid such fraud among people is awareness. The people should not reveal their bank details to anyone because no banks asked any account holder details on the phone,” she said, adding that we have also instructed the bank officials of the several banks they must take quick actions on the victim complaints and strict action will be initiated against them if any lapses are found on their behalf.
–IANS
