‘Regular raids are needed’

HT spoke to former Delhi police commissioner TR Kakkar on the rise in robberies in the city. Excerpts from an interview

Robbery has increased by 73% in Delhi. How seriously should the Delhi Police deal with this rise in crime?
Robbery is definitely a serious crime as while committing this, force is used to snatch someone’s belongings. This shows that the criminals are desperate and are ready to do anything to commit crime. In crimes like theft, snatching, robbery and dacoity, the common element is that the victim loses valuables or cash. It is ultimately loss of property, but robbery and dacoity are more serious as more than two people are involved in the crime.

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Armed robbery also means there is a threat to the victim’s life.
The increasing number of robberies means that criminals are desperate. If the victim shows resistance, the criminal will attack him. If someone is using force to snatch your belongings, he/she will not think twice before attacking you.

What does the police need to do?
The police must carry out regular raids at the hideouts of known robbers just to check whether they are indulging in such incidents. It is important to keep a list of bad characters and keep on checking their movements. There is a need to create awareness among the public.

What should be the priority -- to arrest the robbers or to recover the property?
It is not possible to recover the property before arresting the robbers. But for a victim, recovery of the property is important. However, now quick transfer of stolen property can be done, so a delay in investigation would make it difficult to recover the stolen property. After recovering the stolen amount, the police must take the case to a logical conclusion.

CASE STURY

‘Nobody came to help me’

New Delhi: Over two dozen people watched me as I was being robbed by two men but nobody came forward to help.

I kept on shouting for five minutes, but to no avail. I resisted till I could but the robbers got the better of me and snatched my bag with R7 lakh cash in it.
The crowd watched while I was getting beaten up by the robbers. No one made a PCR call or made any attempt to stop the robbers. The incident changed my views towards the police and society. My family asked me not to file a police case since they were scared. It was the hard work of the investigating team of officers that they arrested the robbers from Jalpaigudi.
(Rakesh Bansal, Businessman)