Maharashtra only state to see 6 crimes worth over ₹100 crore: NCRB

Maharashtra recorded 15,686 cases of economic offences in the year 2019 and was the only state in the country to have six cases involving a sum of over ₹100 crores.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Maharashtra registered an increase in economic offences in 2019, with 14,854 cases being registered in 2018 and 13,941 cases in 2017.

Rajasthan topped the list for economic offences with 26,920 cases being registered in 2019 followed by Uttar Pradesh with 19,968 cases. NCRB statistics claimed that Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra accounted for 38% of the economic crimes in India in 2019.

Among Metropolitan cities, Mumbai saw the maximum cases of economic crime with 5,556 cases being registered in 2019, with Delhi registering 4,817 cases.

The data reveals that Mumbai leads the list of crime under section criminal breach of trust and cheating with 902 cases followed by Lucknow with 762 cases and Delhi with 315 cases.

Officers with the economic offences wing (EOW) in Mumbai Police said that since the city is the financial capital of India, there are a maximum number of cases related to economic offences. Apart from criminal breach of trust Mumbai recorded 4,642 cases of forgery and cheating after Jaipur with 5,905 cases.

“We are urging people to come forward and report cases even if it involved smaller amounts which have increased the number of cases,” said an officer with EOW.

Another officer said that creating awareness about economic frauds and cheating is a major part of policing, especially during lockdown when people are at home and are finding ways and places to invest their money to get maximum returns, owing to the anticipated slowdown and unemployment.