On December 28, a loco pilot of Indian Railways was gunned down and his son was injured after five unidentified men opened fire inside their house in Patna. On December 26, a property dealer named Mohamad Ziya (30) was gunned down by unidentified assailants in Sultanganj in Patna. On December 13, a 16-year-old boy was stabbed to death in New Azimabad colony.
These incidents show what the law and order situation is in Bihar's capital. The police officers are feeling the heat due to the spike in the crime graph in Patna.
As per the data of Bihar police, Patna registered the highest number of cognizable crime in the state with a staggering 23,595 cases of murder, kidnapping, dacoity, rape, theft and burglary between January 2020 and October 2020.
Motihari in East Champaran district had registered the second highest number of cognizable crime cases during the said period, but the numbers are almost half compared to Patna. Motihari registered 11,261 cases, followed by Saran with 10,685 cases. In total, 2,14,968 cognizable crime cases were registered in Bihar during that period.
Patna police had registered 175 murder cases in the first 10 months of 2020, the highest in the state, followed Mujaffarpur (149), Gaya (148) and Motihari (128). Overall, 2,649 murders took place during that period in Bihar's 43 police districts.
The residents of Patna also feel unsafe due to frequent riots. Though there is no sign of communal clashes in Patna, but the police say that people went on arson post incidents like murder, kidnapping, rape or any other henious crime. Patna police registered 763 cases of riots followed by 461 in Darbhanga and 445 in Gaya district.
Patna also reported 809 kidnapping cases, which is the highest in state, followed by Mujaffarpur (442) and Saran (319).
Feeling the heat over the spike in the crime graph, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Upendra Sharma transferred eight SHOs within the district on Monday.
Phool Dev, the SHO of Beur police station, has been transferred to Dumra police station and relieves Manoranjan Bharti. Bharti has been transferred to Patrakaar Nagar police station. Ravi Shankar Singh, the SHO of Budha Colony, has been transferred to Kankarbagh police station, while Nishikant Nishi, the SHO of Kadam Kuan, is the new SHO of Budha Colony. Vimlendu, the SHO of Shastri Nagar, has been appointed as the SHO of Kadam Kuan.
A meeting in this regard was held in the SSP office wherein senior officers were present. Sharma has directed all the SHOs of the district to organise weekly meetings in their respective areas and invite RWAs of residential complexes, owners of fuel stations, hotels, lodges, restaurants, private hospitals etc. and prepare full-proof crime prevention plans.
Sharma also directed the officers to keep tab on liquor transportation, especially home delivery, in the district.
"We are making all possible efforts to prevent criminal acts in the district," he said.