NCRB report: Delhi registered most fraud cases, charge sheets in nearly half

Delhi registered the maximum cases classified under the economic offences such as forgery, cheating and fraud in 2020 among 19 metropolitan cities that have a population of more than two million, according to the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau.

The report, Crime in India 2020, was released last week on Tuesday.

According to the NCRB data, Delhi reported the maximum 4,445 cases in the economic offences category, followed by Mumbai with 3,927 and Jaipur 3,217 cases. However, the rate of such crime (cases per million population) was the highest in Jaipur at 10.4. Delhi and Mumbai had a crime rate of 2.72 and 2.13 respectively. Patna, Lucknow and Hyderabad also reported higher rate of economic offences than Delhi and Mumbai --- 4.97, 7.67 and 4.42 respectively.

In absolute numbers, cases of such crime dropped in Delhi in 2020, compared to 4,817 in 2019 -- the year when Jaipur reported the maximum cases at 6,107.The same year, Mumbai reported the second highest cases at 5,556.

According to the 2020 data. Delhi also reported a better average of cases in which charge sheets were filed, meaning culprits were caught and brought to justice. The Delhi Police filed charge sheets in 44.5% of the total 4,445 economic offences.

The Jaipur police registered 3,217 cases last year that was nearly 2,900 less than 2019. However, with just 12.9%, the city had the lowest cases in which charge sheets were filed in 2020. Mumbai, the financial capital of India, reported a charge sheet percentage of 38.5% in 2020, NCRB statistics show.

Experts and serving Delhi Police officers attributed the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown as the reason behind the rise in registration of economic offences cases in Delhi.

Retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Ashok Chand said apart from seeing expansion of residential colonies on the outskirts of Delhi, the city’s surrounding areas such as Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad are also developing in terms of housing societies. Scores of big and small builders launch attractive housing schemes but not all of them fulfil the promises after taking money from investors due to various reasons, he said.

“Apart from cases filed by the investors against builders, several types of cheating and forgery cases such as ponzi schemes and job rackets are also reported in Delhi, in isolation as well as in bulk. Property related frauds are also very common in the city. The police should create awareness about such scams and the modus operandi to prevent people from falling prey to such schemes,” said Chand, who retired from Delhi Police.

As far as the monetary value involved in economic offences in the 19 metropolitan cities is concerned, a total of 20 cases were registered in 2020, in which the money lost exceeded ₹100 crore. Delhi also topped this category with 12 such cases.

The second highest were reported in Chennai at four cases.

The Delhi Police also registered 1,899 cases in which loss was less than ₹1 lakh, and 910 cases under the ₹1 lakh and ₹10 lakh bracket, the NCRB data shows.

Special commissioner of police (EOW), Devesh Chandra Srivastava said, “A majority of the cases registered in 2020 were related to cheating and fraud in the name of Delhi Development Authority’s (DDA’s) land pooling scheme and filing of Goods and Services Tax (GST). In addition, several bogus schemes promising high returns on investments are also reported to us. When we take action such frauds or their organisations, many of their other victims turn up to lodge cases, hoping to get justice. It would be wrong to just look at the number of cases. One must also consider the number of arrests, showing the police’s swift action against such crimes.”