RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh continues to be the hardest hit state by violence and crime unleashed by the outlawed CPI (Maoist), suggest comprehensive crime statistics released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for 2017.
Out of the total 82 murders by the Maoists, as many as 72 were killed in Chhattisgarh alone. This was followed by terrorists killing-- 34 in Jammu and Kashmir. The insurgents in the Northeast have killed ten people.
The various categories of crimes by “Anti-National Elements” revealed that the 652 offences were committed by the banned Maoists. Out of these Chhattisgarh has reported 492 incidents, which is way ahead of other left-wing extremism (LWE) affected states. Next comes Manipur (84), followed by Jharkhand (30), Andhra Pradesh (16) and Telangana (12) on crime cases reported by Naxalites.
West Bengal where the Naxalism emerged as extreme left radical communist ideology in 1967, has recorded zero cases.
The overall offences reported by the North East insurgents is 421 and the total crime by the terrorists (including jihadi group) registered is 377 from six Indian states.
Among the incidents of violence unleashed by anti-National elements in 2017, the crime lodged against the Maoists is 493 which is higher than the combined registered cases of 290 — that included north-east insurgency (113) and terrorists including Jihadi (177).
Cited as the repository of information on crime and criminals, the NCRB data divulged that Chhattisgarh is the only state where 32 incidents of loot/robbery and 41 of arsons in connection with crimes registered against Maoists were reported.
Chhattisgarh has also registered the most number of cases on Explosive Substances Act (27), Arms Act (6) and other crimes on different sections of Indian Penal Code (36), damages to public property (2). Telangana and Kerala had just nine cases each as the offences committed under unlawful activities (prevention) act and other IPC crimes recorded.
While Chhattisgarh has the highest 34 cases reported under the other ‘Special and Local Laws’ (SLL) crimes followed by the Jharkhand with 21 and Andhra Pradesh with just 2 registered.
There are no incidents of extortion reported from any of the 14 Naxal-affected districts of Chhattisgarh, while the states of Telangana and Jharkhand reported 3 and 2 incidents of extortions respectively.
There are 147 Maoists killed by the security forces compared to 117 terrorists and 7 insurgents killed as per the latest NCRB data.