Hyderabad: Crime rate in Rachakonda down by 12 percent in 2020
Hyderabad: The overall crime rate in the Rachakonda Commissionerate limits dipped by 12 per cent in 2020, with 20,641 cases registered as against the 23,127 registered in 2019.
Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh M Bhagwat, releasing the crime statistics for the year 2020 on Monday, said the efforts of the police to bring down the crime rate and to ensure safety of the citizens through various initiatives and strategies, was paying off. He said the crime rate had come down due to swift response to complaints, detailed investigation into crimes, stringent action on wrong doers including invoking the PD Act, pursuance of trial resulting in high number of convictions and also swift response to distress calls.
Grave crimes including robbery, murder, dacoity, kidnapping and rioting had seen a dip in the year while there was an increase in cybercrime by around 200 per cent.
“We attribute the increase in Cybercrime due to the increase in use of the internet by the people. During the lockdown too, there was increase in the cybercrime cases,” he said.
As for crimes against women, there was a slight increase with 329 cases reported in 2020 as against 314 last year.
“We are encouraging women to come forward and report violence or sexual assault against them. So there is spike in the number of cases of crimes against women,” Bhagwat said.
The year, though a troubled one on many counts, also saw the police getting a fillip with the conviction rate increasing by around 51 per cent. Several persons who were arrested in sensational cases due to planned efforts and coordination between different wings were convicted by courts.
Stating that 2020 was a year of citizen-centric policing for the Rachakonda Police, Bhagwat said the personnel were continuously engaged in humanitarian work during the pandemic and later, during the October flash floods in the city. “Although it was a challenging period, despite the grave risks, we came forward and reached out to the community with all our might to provide solace to them,” the Commissioner said.
Illustration by Mulla Chaitanya
‘Sustained efforts paying dividends’
The conviction rate in Rachakonda increased by around 51 percent in 2020 with courts found guilty 94 persons of various offences for jail terms ranging between one year and 20 years.
Rachakonda Commissioner Mahesh M Bhagwat said investigation officers were closely coordinating with the prosecution officials due to which the police were presenting a watertight case in the courts. “Due to our sustained efforts, the court awarded death sentence to Marri Srinivas Reddy of the Hajipur sexual assault case. Four persons were imprisoned for 20 years for sexually assaulting a woman at a brick kiln in Maheshwaram. The police also gathered strong evidence against property offenders as a result of which the four members of the Chaddi Gang were imprisoned for three years,” he said.
Among the other important cases was the conviction of Ithem Ravi Shekhar, who lured a woman from Uppal on pretext of arranging a job and sexually exploited her and also that of businessman Sachin for murdering his wife at Uppal.
Also read:
Accident deaths see sharp fall under Rachakonda limits
200 per cent jump in cybercrime cases in Rachakonda limits
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