Cybercrime cases rise by 93% in 2022; crimes against women and children see decline in Visakhapatnam

Cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act have gone up as the City Task Force was strengthened and special focus was laid on stamping out the drug menace, says Police Commissioner

The city has seen a 93% rise in the number of cybercrimes in 2022 compared to last year. There was also an increase in property offences and cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, especially those related to synthetic drugs.

Though road accidents have registered a decline, the number of fatalities has not come down. Crimes against women and children have seen a drastic decline, said Commissioner of Police Ch Srikanth while releasing the annual crime report at the Police Conference Hall on Thursday.

Addressing the media, Mr. Srikanth said that 10,834 cases were reported in 2022, as against 14,315 cases in 2021. He said that in 2021, the city police booked 204 NDPS cases whereas in 2022, the City Task Force (CTF) was strengthened and more focus was laid on eradicating the drug menace, resulting in the booking of 252 cases. In 2021, 444 persons were arrested and 2,615 kg of ganja, 58.84 grams of MDMA, and 5.25 grams of cocaine was recovered. This year, 598 persons were arrested and 6,010 kg of ganja, 360 grams of weed oil, 1.427 grams of MDMA, around 8,000 MDMA tablets and 3,803 sedative injections were recovered. He said that around 220 persons from Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana, Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and 18 other States were arrested.

The number of cybercrime cases reported this year was 610 as against 316 in 2021. He attributed the increase in the registration of cases to extensive awareness programmes conducted for the public. The accused were involved in loan app frauds, part-time job frauds, Aadhaar-enabled payment system frauds and fake bank account frauds. There were many cases in which people were arrested for troubling women online, he said.

Mr. Srikanth said that compared to 2021, bodily offences witnessed a decline of around 17%. The number of murders reported was 37 in 2021 and 38 in 2022. The murders were committed for reasons such as a fit of rage or sudden provocation, illicit affairs and family disputes, old rivalries, drunken brawls and two cases of murders by psychopaths, which were solved immediately. This year, 62 attempt-to-murders were reported as against 75 during 2021.

Property offences increased from 788 last year to 847 this year. About 67% of cases were detected and around ₹3.26 crore of the ₹5.54 crore property was recovered. House break-ins during the day increased from 25 in 2021 to 31 this year and the corresponding figures for house break-ins at night stood at 154 and 170. The Commissioner added that crimes against women have decreased by 29% this year as compared to the previous year with the number coming down from 1,093 to 718. Domestic violence cases have declined from 436 in 2021 to 376 in 2022 and rape cases declined from 167 in 2021 to 125 this year.

Mr. Srikanth said that while 1,463 road accidents were reported in 2021, the number has come down to 1,327 in 2022. He said that unnatural deaths which include suicides and several accidental death cases have increased to 800 in 2022 from 740 in 2021.