Theft, burglary, dacoity and presence of Naxal in the urban populace — Ranchi has truly become a capital of crime as the police’s own record explains why the city deserves the tag. Uneven deployment and concentration in VVIP areas has made Ranchi a lawbreaker’s paradise with most number of cases being reported from the heart of the city and business centres of the capital where incidentally VVIP movements are rarely observed.
While a major heist at a renowned bank at lalpur was yet to be solved, police was taken aback by a daylight robbery on February 3 just 200 yards from the resident of Chief Minister Raghubar Das. Even as the VVIP areas are manned properly with certain streets and localities assuming significance over others, there are few that lay completely on the mercy of a criminal.
Higher visibility of police in areas in Kanke Road, Morhabadi and near Nakasthra Van stands in contrast to the missing policing in other parts of the city. But it is one fact which police finds difficult to accept. “There is no fix route for the criminal to surface. Rise in crimes does not depend on deployment. Actual problem we face is the dearth of manpower and resources at the police station. We face a lot of difficulty in reaching a crime scene because of a number hurdles both related to infrastructure and people,” said City DSP, SN Soren.
Incidentally, police is yet to reach to the culprits of the bank heist in which thieves had barged into the bank and stolen valuables from four lockers. Nonetheless, police claims to have discovered vital clue in the case. Statistics available with police say that Ranchi tops among all districts in crime with around 362 cases of different categories registered so far in the year 2015.
However, the numbers available unearths that maximum number of cases have been reported in the heart of city and major commercial areas of the capital. As many as 55 cases were reported in Kotwali PS area and about 28 have been reported from lalpur area which is second major business district of capital. Of the total number of cases registered for various categories, cases of theft formed a major portion with 77 registered cases and around 16 cases of burglary making into the police’s record. Notwithstanding the records that is available for people’s scrutiny police claims that the records are not verified.
According to highly placed sources in the police, surveillance is a difficult task in the densely populated areas however a new approach is being adopted by the police to identify pattern of crime and the impact of migration of nomads into the city. The source also said that they have identified certain groups and examining their involvement in theft and related activities to keep the growing menace of larceny under check.