Expressing concern about increasing number of motor vehicle theft and snatching cases in the national Capital in the last three years, Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Kumar Verma has instructed the deputy commissioners of police to invoke stringent sections of IPC against proclaimed offenders repeating such crimes.
At a high-level meeting recently, the top cop issued directions that cases under the Motor Vehicles Act should be added in the heinous crime category.
Besides, as police found that auto-lifter gangs in the capital have turned tech-savvy, with many of them using software and other equipment to break into vehicles, the top cop has directed the Joint CP (Crime) to write to all car manufacturers to take preventive steps in this regard. According to police estimate, 45 interstate auto-lifter gangs are currently operating in the Capital and the gangs no longer use conventional methods to break into vehicles.
The number of cases registered till June 15 under the Motor Vehicles Act has gone up from 13,061 in 2015 to 17,809 this year. Statistics show that the total number of motor theft cases registered in 2014 was 23,384.
These cases went up to 32,729 in 2015. Similarly, the total number of snatching cases registered up to June 15, was 4281 in 2015.
These cases went up to 4625 in 2016. The total number of snatching cases was registered in 2015 was 9,896 as compared to 7,350 in 2014. It is estimated that there are 3,000 cases of proclaimed offenders of Motor Vehicle Theft and snatching in the national capital.
On the several gangsters active in Outer Delhi North Delhi districts, The Commissioner of Police directed the deputy commissioners of police of the districts to make more efforts for identifying the cases which are fit to be booked under the NSA.
“CP/ Delhi directed that DCPs/ North and Outer Districts need to take some more effort for identifying the cases which are fit to be booked under NSA,” said the minutes of the meeting which is in possession of The Pioneer.
The NSA of 1980 empowers the Central and State Governments to detain a person to prevent him or her from acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of India, the relation of India with foreign countries, the maintenance of public order, or the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the community it is necessary so to do. The Act also gives powers to the governments to detain a foreigner in a view to regulate his presence or expel from the country. The Act extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu & Kashmir. The maximum period of detention under the act is 12 months.
The police chief also directed the DCP North-West District to take some action under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). The concerned DCP apprised the top cop that his men have already identified two cases and his team was working on them.
The MCOCA was enacted by Maharashtra state in India in 1999 to combat organised crime and terrorism. The preamble to MCOCA says that “the existing legal framework, ie the penal and procedural laws and the adjudicatory system, are found to be rather inadequate to curb or control the menace of organised crime.”
The police chief also expressed his unhappiness over the number of criminals being arrested and about absent “bad characters (BCs)” in the city. During the meeting, the officers informed that most of the criminals were already in jail. The police chief directed all district DCPs to keep track on all such criminals. He also issued directions to prepare separate columns about the criminals who were in jail and the ones who were wanted by the force. He also directed all the District DCPs, especially the ones heading East, North-East and Outer Delhi, to make systematic plans for intelligence gathering about the absent “BCs” and make concerted efforts to arrest them.