Mumbai: Navi Mumbai police published an annual report on Wednesday, which claimed they have detected 66% cases registered in 2018. However, the number has declined when compared to the figures of 2017, when the detection rate was 72%. Meanwhile, the crime rate in Navi Mumbai saw a spurt of 14.33% last year when compared to the figures in 2017. Crimes — rape, attempt to murder, chain snatching, thefts, vehicle thefts, kidnapping and cheating dominated the crime sheet of Navi Mumbai in 2018. In the crime detection rate of 66% in 2018, the cases, which were detected comprised of chain snatching (74%), thefts (36%) and house break-ins (91%). The cases registered in the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Navi Mumbai police also saw a spurt of 25% when compared to 2017, as 77 cases were registered last year while 58 cases were registered in 2017. Some of the cases detected by Navi Mumbai police included the arrest of paedophile Rehan Qureshi, arrested eight years after he raped and murdered two girls in Kurla’s Nehru Nagar. Qureshi, 34, was arrested in October last year for sexually assaulting over a dozen girls in three districts—Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai and Palghar. To date, Qureshi has been named in over 20 cases of rape and molestation in several districts and police have been seeking his custody since his arrest for further probe.
Meanwhile, Navi Mumbai police is still struggling to detect the cases of cyber crime registered with them, as only 27 cases were detected of the 75 cases registered last year. Most cases included debit/ credit card frauds and defamation on social media. To create awareness, Navi Mumbai police also conducted seminars in schools and educated the budding social media users. In 2018, Navi Mumbai police registered 19 cases of narcotic crimes and arrested 36 persons and seized narcotic substances worth `1.14 crore. The percentile saw a close dip of 2%, as in its preceding year, police had registered 22 cases and arrested 39 persons. Likewise, the Navi Mumbai traffic police booked 95,397 errant drivers and collected `2.48 crore in fines. Police also initiated a special drive ‘Campus with Helmet’ in colleges to create awareness among the youngsters.
