The police are nowadays facing a tough time cracking the crimes with the number of first-time criminals registering an increase. In the last few years, there has been an increase in the number of crime cases, including kidnapping, rape, murder, burglary, cyber and other theft cases in the plain districts of Uttarakhand and in most of these cases, first- time criminals were involved.
In the recent kidnapping case, a 17- year- old boy Harshit was abducted from Vasant Vihar and a ransom of Rs5 crore was demanded from the family by a Haridwar- based contractor in lieu of his release.
Harshit was, however, rescued from Jagjeetpur under Kankhal Police Station within 36 hours, thanks to hard work by the police. But what is interesting is that, in this case, the contractor Sanjay Baliyan had deployed his son, daughter, employee and others in the scheme of abduction.
In reference to the recent ghastly gang rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl in Haldwani, all the three accused appear to be first- time criminals, though police are investigating the case from several angles.
In the recent acid attack reported in Udham Singh Nagar, the accused was first- time criminal, it is learnt. In the gruesome incident on the Diwali night , a 22 –year- old Harmit Singh had allegedly hacked to death four members of his family- father, step-mother, pregnant sister and her three –year- old child.
State Additional Director General of Police (law and order) Ram Singh Meena said that while reviewing some of the recent cases, it was observed that number of crime cases, including cyber crimes, involving first- time criminals have been increasing alarmingly in the State.
On Facebook and other social networking sites, people, especially the youth, are disclosing their identities as well as other details apart from updating their day-to-day activities.This is what is resulting in the spurt in crimes being committed by the first -time criminals. Earlier, crimes were committed by seasoned people.Things were easier then as it was easy to have their antecedents judged. But now, things are proving difficult as the criminals are mostly greenhorns in the arena of crime.
Police are per force putting extra efforts to crack them. The senior police officer appealed to the people to inform police if they encounter any suspicious person in their localities. Apart from this, the people should desist from sharing personal details with strangers on Facebook or other social networking sites, he warned.