Mohali sees nearly two-fold spike in extortion cases in 2024

: With gangsters operating from abroad and even running their network from jails, extortion cases in Mohali have almost doubled this year as compared to the last year. A total of 36 extortion cases were reported in the district till November this year as compared to 19 last year.

Extortion calls to industrialists, Punjabi singers residing here and businessmen is rampant in the district and in many cases, gangsters tend to warn and threaten their targets by firing outside their house or at their workplace.

While the local police are yet to compile the data for the last month of the year, the crime data shows that more criminal cases were registered in the district police stations this year.

While a total of 3,885 cases were registered last year in Mohali, 4,009 cases were registered across the district till November 30 in 2024.

More rape cases filed this year

Mohali police registered more rape case this year. Total of 105 rape cases were reported in Mohali police stations till November 30 as compared to 93 cases last year.

A significant increase was also witnessed in kidnapping cases as 154 cases were already reported this year in the first 11 months as compared to 138 cases in 2023.

Moreover, as compared to 494 theft cases last year, a total of 513 thefts were registered across the district till November this year.

Street crimes up

A significant increase was also witnessed in the street crimes in Mohali this year as 189 cases of snatching were registered in the first 11 months as compared to 150 snatchings registered last year. Similarly, 14 robberies were reported this year as compared to a mere three cases registered in Mohali last year. Mohali police registered 46 cases under the Arms Act till November this year as compared to 33 cases registered in 2023. Moreover, 60 cases of attempt to murder were already registered across Mohali till November 30 as compared to 61 cases last year.

Meanwhile, less murders were reported this year. As compared to 41 murder cases reported in Mohali last year, 31 cases were registered this year till November-end.

Notably, Mohali witnessed a 66% dip in snatchings in the past five months. Moreover, a major dip was witnessed in the snatching calls at the police control room (112) from August till December.

While 159 snatchings calls were received by the Mohali police control room in August, these calls reduced to 125 in September, 117 in October, 76 in November and merely 53 in December as per the police data.

Deepak Pareek, senior superintendent of police (SSP), Mohali said that the increase in cases registered this year was due to strict instructions to all the station house officers and in-charge of police posts to register FIRs for every reported incident.

“With our ongoing efforts to combat street crimes, we launched an intensive campaign to identify, apprehend, and bring offenders to justice. As a result, we succeeded in reducing the number of snatching incidents by 66% in the past five months”, the SSP said.

He attributed a dip in street crime in five months to an increase in the PCRs, increase in CCTV cameras and special emphasis on strengthening night policing.

He added that around 4,274 cases were registered during the year with disposal of 4,268 cases, with the overall disposal rate of 99.8%.

Arrests

Mohali police arrested over 3,000 criminals this year including 382 NDPS accused, 277 snatchers, 91 proclaimed offenders, and 358 were arrested as preventive action.

Meanwhile, Mohali police issued a total of 1,38,508 traffic challans this year across Mohali.