The year 2023 witnessed a steep increase in the number of cases registered with a total of 68,518 cases compared to 46,187 cases reported in 2022. However the police attributed the significant increase to enhanced awareness and initiatives such as filing suo motu cases, complaints via the 112 control room leading to FIRs, and e-FIR initiatives started by them.
While the city police are yet to release the full data for crimes in the city during 2023, they released the data on enforcement on Tuesday.
The data shows a significant rise in the number of narcotics cases registered in the city: 3,433 cases leading to the seizure of 5,387 kg of drugs worth ₹103.21 crore during 2023. Though the number of narcotics cases registered has significantly come down from 4,027 cases booked in 2022, the total quantity of drugs seized and its value has shot up significantly. In 2022, 4,027 narcotics cases were booked and 4,228 kg of drugs worth ₹92.7 crore was seized. A total of 4,399 people, including 126 foreign nationals, were arrested in 2023.
In some of the important recoveries made, the CCB busted an inter-State drug racket and seized ₹11.44 crore worth of 1,438 kg of ganja in June 2023, and recovered ₹30 crore worth of narcotics from two Nigerian nationals arrested in Ramamurthy Nagar in November 2023.
The police also invoked Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PIT-NDPS) Act against 30-year-old Akhilesh Kumar, a native of Bihar. The accused was a habitual peddler with as many as six cases of drugs peddling in and around the city against him and confiscated his properties, including movable and immovable, which he had amassed through his illegal earnings.
The city police arrested 126 foreign nationals and 247 of them staying illegally in the city were deported to their homelands. A total of 388 absconding accused in old cases were tracked down. While 45 individuals were externed from the city, Goonda Act was invoked against 14 rowdy-sheeters. Trial was completed in 21,428 cases, of which conviction and punishment was given in 15,229 cases, of which 65 accused were sentenced to life.
Some of the major cases cracked by the city police include the arrest of the accused who wrote death-threat letters to writers, busting the illegal sex determination and abortion racket, a child smuggling and sale racket, and a cybercrime network that involved cheating 5,013 individuals of ₹854 crore, the city police claimed.
