Over 8,000 held in north-west Delhi after new police combing drive kicked in

Police said the Northwest Delhi district also witnessed a 24% decline in calls to the police control room and 33% decline in street crimes since the project was launched 108 days ago

The northwest district police has arrested over 8,000 criminals and anti-social elements, including 126 robbers, 168 snatchers, 49 burglars, 141 vehicle thieves, 306 thieves and 367 habitual offenders, in over three months since it launched ‘Operation Sajag’ -- a special combing and area dominance exercise, said senior police officers from the district on Friday.

Police said they adopted comprehensive patrolling strategies with focus on specific areas, and outcome oriented tasking of pickets and patrolling staff. (Getty Images)

Officials said the district also witnessed a 24% decline in calls to the police control room and 33% decline in street crimes since the project was launched 108 days ago.

Deputy commissioner of police (northwest) Usha Rangnani said that the operation was started on October 4, in line with the city police chief Rakesh Asthana’s directions for police domination of streets to curb street crimes such as snatching, robbery and vehicle thefts.

“The objective was to keep a vigil on criminals and other anti-social elements, apart from establishing confidence among the public through higher visibility of police personnel on streets and residential colonies in the northwest district. The operation was carried out in the form of a special combing and area dominance exercise during which personnel between the ranks of constables and DCP remained in the field for 24 hours,” said DCP Rangnani.

The DCP said that the northwest district is a densely populated area, with many slum clusters, like that in Wazirpur Industrial Area, Shakurpur, Haiderpur and Lal Bagh, and sensitive areas such as Sangam Park, Shah Alam Bandh Road, B&C block and Jahangirpuri. The district also has industrial areas at Wazirpur, GTK Road, Lawrence Road, Udyog Nagar and Mahindra Park. The largest fruit and vegetable market of Asia, Azadpur Mandi, also lies in its jurisdiction.

“Such diverse socio-economic populace, dwelling units and institutions give rise to a number of challenges with respect to crime. Therefore, Operation Sajag was started and under it, strengthening of daily static pickets was done by equipping the personnel with wireless sets and weapons. Patrolling was also enhanced by adding more patrol bikes in the area for controlling street crimes and apprehending criminals,” she said.

Police said they adopted comprehensive patrolling strategies with focus on specific areas, and outcome oriented tasking of pickets and patrolling staff. Officials said there was a 47% increase in preventive action against listed and budding criminals, apart from surveillance over criminals released from jails.

Another focus area was the detection of sources of illicit firearms, drugs, illicit liquor and receivers of stolen property, and the force also carried out surprise raids and combing operations based on intelligence inputs in the district along the railways lines, in association with the railway police and personnel of the paramilitary forces.

“As a result, 8,006 people were arrested in the last 108 days. These included 126 robbers, 168 snatchers, 141 vehicle thieves, 306 thieves and 49 burglars. A total of 5,269 unclaimed vehicles were seized while 23 firearms and 91 knives were recovered from 114 arrested people. We also arrested 244 people for gambling and recovered over ₹33.55 lakh. Our teams recovered 288 stolen mobile phones,” said DCP Rangnani, adding that the operation is continuing in the district.