The Hindu : New Delhi News : Criminals are going places

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 20, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Criminals are going places

Once they sneak out of the Capital it becomes difficult for the police to trace them, observes Prashant Pandey

Criminals from outside the Capital and illegal migrants from neighbouring countries have often been responsible for a number of incidents of crime in Delhi. But if some of the detections in the past couple of months are anything to go by, it seems these criminals are going places, as it were, and increasingly committing crimes in other cities as well.

To give a recent example, a gang of robbers arrested by the South Delhi police was found to have been involved in not only a robbery committed in Gurgaon but also in Bangalore. Essentially a network of domestic helps from Nepal who worked in and around the Capital and subsequently took to crime, this gang had gone there and stayed in a hotel before striking in a house and escaping with a huge quantity of jewellery. After committing the robberies, they would escape to Nepal with all the booty.

In another case, the Indore police had contacted the Delhi police a couple of months ago when they were rocked by eight robberies within a very short span. The modus operandi of the gang was similar to the one used by the gangs of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in Delhi. And, as it turned out, it was one of the gangs of the Capital that had gone there and committed the robberies.

Earlier there have been examples of petty criminals, like bag lifters, moving up to Punjab during the harvest season to reap a "rich harvest". These bag lifters, who hail from a particular region in Tamil Nadu, are smart operators. They make it difficult for the police to catch them. They have earned enough to build palatial houses back in their villages.

As far as criminals from within the Capital are concerned, it is generally known to the police that they are more active in faraway areas than closer home. For instance, criminals living in North-East Delhi are more likely to commit a crime in South or North-West Delhi than in the Capital's trans-Yamuna area.

On the other hand, criminals from outside not only commit crime here but also try to seek refuge in Delhi. One such example was the recent arrest of Sanjeev Maheshwari, who was allegedly involved in the murder of Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Krishnanand Rai.

He was arrested in North-West Delhi. There have been several other cases of criminals from Bihar or Uttar Pradesh hiding in Delhi.

There are a few obvious reasons why the Capital attracts criminals from outside. For one, the city provides anonymity. Also, once the criminals sneak out of the Capital, it becomes difficult for the police to trace them. Further, there is always scope of striking it rich in Delhi due to the circulation of large amounts of money.

One of the reasons why criminals from within the Capital have not been much active is that they are identified and a lot many of them are behind bars. "There are mechanisms in place which helps in keeping a tab on them. But criminals from outside pose a greater challenge to us as there is very less information on them," says a police officer.

It must be said that there is not much evidence to suggest that these criminals are moving to other cities as part of a thoroughly organised plan. But, as has been the case with other crimes in the past, there is a possibility of this becoming a trend and the networks of such criminals becoming stronger. A case in point is the highly organised crime of motor vehicle thefts.

Perhaps one way to prevent such a development is increased sharing of information about crimes and criminals among police forces of various metropolitan cities and also the cities that are growing in a big way as they too would attract criminals for obvious reasons.

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