E-Paper
77 murders in Pune in 2020: NCRB data; highest in three years
PUNE: A year of lockdown to control the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020 brought down the number of violent crimes in almost all metropolitan cities
PUNE: A year of lockdown to control the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020 brought down the number of violent crimes in almost all metropolitan cities. However, according to recent data published by the National crime records bureau (NCRB), the number of murder cases in Pune have seen an uptick, even as overall violent crimes reduced.
The NCRB published the booklet “Crime in India, 2020” on Tuesday.
The violent crimes include 16 types of crimes like murder, culpable homicide not amounting to murder, dowry deaths, attempted murder, kidnapping, rape, rioting, dacoity, and arson among others. Cases are registered throughout the year and the data is collated by NCRB.
In 2018, Pune witnessed 1,871 violent crimes as per NCRB records, with a reduction to 1,661 in 2019 and a further reduction to 1,320 in 2020. In the corresponding years, the murder cases were 73, 74, and 77, respectively, according to the records.
Of the victims, 15 were men in the age group of 30-45 and 8 women from the same age group; and 6 men and 1 woman aged above 45 years.
Among the reasons for the murders, 40 were without any known motive. However, among the cases with clear motive, the motive of gaining something from a person’s death claimed highest number of lives - 12.
Family disputes was the second highest reason for murder - 9. Love affairs claimed 6 while previous enmity claimed 4 lives.
The year 2020 in Pune was marred by one political murder. Deepak Maratkar, a 36-year-old Shiv Sena leader was brutally stabbed in a public space near his house in Gawli aali area of Budhwar peth. The entire incident was captured on CCTV and a case was registered at Faraskhana police station. The state law against organised crime, Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) was invoked in the case. Some police personnel also faced suspension as a fallout.
A 70-year-old man has been booked by the Pune police on Wednesday for the murder of his 66-year-old wife, after both of them were found dead at their apartment in Karvenagar on July 27.
On the night of July 12, a local builder and two others were killing a man over his affair with the builder’s 19-year-old daughter.
The death of money-lender Ghanshyam alias Pappu Padwal (51) in his Kondhwa residence was another brutal murder to mark the past year.
In one of the murders that did not have a clear reason, a 34-year-old labourer was found bludgeoned to death in Bibwewadi area of Pune on June 24 and 3 people were later arrested. The police found a drunken fight over a trivial reason as the reason behind the murder.
Reacting to growing murders, Pune Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta said, “Statistic can be revealing or misleading. Last year due to lockdown, most cases were of section 188 of Indian Penal Code. Since most people were at home due to lockdown, others crimes were very less. As far as murders are concerned, the figure has gone down not drastically by single digit.”
The cases under Section 188 of IPC went up in all parts of the country, as per the data. “Major increase was seen in the cases registered under Disobedience to order duly promulgated by Public Servant (Section 188 of IPC) from 29,469 cases in 2019 to 6,12,179 cases in 2020,” read the summary of overall crimes in the report.
Commissioner Gupta, while speaking at a press interaction organised by Pune Union of Working Journalists said, “The lockdown year was different due to the Covid19 lockdown. It is for the same reason, when I hold meetings I consider crime data of there years – 2019, 2020, and 2021.”
Speaking about controlling series crimes and the audacious display of criminal acts by miscreants, Gupta said steps have been taken with stricter sections to control such events. “Earlier people used to put WhatsApp status or video of cutting of cake using swords, or similar things. I don’t claim all this has completely stopped. But the ratio has come down,” he said.
