Sumit Kumar Singh By

In Delhi valuables worth Rs 36,000 crore were stolen so far in 2014. Only Rs 2,800 crore recovered.

It’s not for nothing that Delhi is called India’s crime capital. The total value of stolen goods in the city equals its annual budget. While the value of the haul this year is estimated at Rs 36,000 crore, the total budget estimate for the entire state for 2014-15 was Rs 36,766 crore.

According to the Delhi Police crime statistics, cash and goods worth Rs 34,594 crore were stolen in 2013 and the figure was Rs 21,211 crore for 2012. While in 2011, goods worth Rs 24,119 crore were stolen, 2010 witnessed burglaries worth Rs 20,566 crore. This year, the figure is bound to cross Rs 36,000 crore, claim the police. The reason: the crime rates have doubled in 2014. By November-end, 75 cases of dacoity, 5,876 incidents of robbery, 6,599 cases of snatching, 9,097 incidents of burglary, 11,856 cases of house theft, 21,112 incidents of auto theft and 6,599 other thefts were reported in the city.

The estimated figure of stolen goods relates to only those cases in which FIRs were registered. Many people prefer not to report small thefts like that of phones or laptops. They normally register lost reports rather than file an FIR if the since it involves tedious process of claiming the goods after their recovery.

Of the goods worth Rs 34,594 crore that were stolen in 2013, vehicles were worth Rs 16,086.2 crore and jewellery amounted to Rs 5,535.04 crore. Rs 6,572.86 was stolen in cash while phones and laptops worth Rs 1,729.7 crore and other valuables, including TV sets, clothes, iron rods, copper wire and household items, worth Rs 4,670.19 crore were stolen.

Delhi is the most urbanised city with the highest per capita income in the country and most number of rich live here. This makes the value of theft very high. The per capita annual income of people without factoring in inflation was at `2,19,979 during 2013.

However, showing a poor track record of recovery, the police have so far managed to recover goods worth 7 per cent (Rs 2,800 crore) till November this year. Only 6.44 per cent (Rs 2,229 crore) of the stolen goods were recovered in 2013 and 16.37 per cent (Rs 3,472 crore) in 2012. In 2011, the police had recovered only 8.58 per cent (`2,070 crore) of the total stolen goods and in 2010, the haul was just 7.37 per cent (Rs 1,516 crore).

Of the stolen goods worth Rs 34,594 crore in 2013, 0.36 per cent (Rs 124.54 crore) were taken away in dacoity, 7.36 per cent (Rs 2,525.36 crore) in robbery, 6.53 per cent (Rs 2,258.98 crore) in burglary. Auto theft amounted to 46.50 per cent (Rs 16086.2 crore), criminal breach of trust 12.88 per cent (Rs 4,455.70 crore) and other kinds of offences, including snatching, 26.43 per cent (Rs 9143.19 crore).

In 2013, 30 incidents of dacoity, 1,109 robbery, 3,319 snatching, 2872 burglary, 13,900 motor vehicle thefts and 10,298 incidents of other thefts took place. In the previous year, 28 incidents of dacoity, 577 robbery, 1,371 snatching, 1,617 burglary, 13,624 cases of motor vehicle theft and 5,583 other thefts were reported.

Despite tall claims of the country’s elite police force of making the national capital a safer place to live, incidents of burglary, dacoity, robbery and auto thefts are increasing with each passing day. This apart, the claims of being good investigators too remain ambiguous as 55 per cent of cases in 2013 still remain unsolved and prosecution too is less than 40 per cent.

Recovering cash is an uphill task for the police. On December 18, the Crime Branch solved a sensational heist of approximately Rs 1.5 crore that took place in the Lahori Gate area with the arrest of two people. The police managed to recover Rs 32 lakh, and the hunt is on to arrest the other accused and recover the entire amount. In big robbery cases, police sometimes manage to recover the looted amount but in small cases, they rarely recover the goods or cash.