VISAKHAPATNAM: Crime rate in Visakhapatnam has seen a steep increase this year, if the records available with the city police are any indication. Bodily offences, property offences, white collar crimes, road accidents and other forms of crime have seen an increase of 20 to 30 per cent more than the previous year.
As many as 6,227 cases of crime, including road accidents, have been reported in Visakhapatnam this year, while the same for 2015 and 2014 were 5,204 and 5,336 respectively.
Among the crimes, there are 1,711 property offences, out of which 375 house-breaks, 548 ordinary thefts and 551 motor vehicle thefts.
Last year, the count was 1,339, while for 2014, it was 1,667, which shows a 27 per cent increase this year.
In the category of bodily offences and white collar crimes and other categories, as many as 3,100 cases were registered this year, as against 2,583 in 2015 and 2,425 in 2014 which is around 23 per cent increase. Among them 34 cases are of murder, 96 kidnapping and 78 rape, besides 584 cheating cases.
City police commissioner T Yoganand said the increase was due to the registration of complaints by public by approaching police stations without fear. Yoganand said that in October, he asked station house officers (SHOs) to register complaints of motor vehicle thefts, which were in huge number.
The city also witnessed 1,416 road accidents in which 352 people died and 1,477 were injured. The CP said they had identified two main danger zones in the city limits.
While one is the Hanumanthuwaka-PM Palem stretch, the steel plant area is the second. “Among the accident deaths reported this year, around 100 people died on the Hanumanthuwaka- PM Palem stretch. Meanwhile, the Steel Plant area registered 56 deaths. We will focus on the two stretches,” Yoganand said.