February’s gains of Nagpur Police undone in March with 11 murders and 23 robberies

Nagpur CP Amitesh Kumar

Eleven people were murdered and 23 persons were robbed on the streets in Nagpur, and all this in the space of one month. Tight policing done during the last few months came to naught at the end of the financial year. After witnessing zero murder cases in February, the spurt in body offences and street crimes in March was a wake-up call for the Nagpur police. When not a single murder had taken place in February, the police officials had attributed the success to the hard work of police personnel and stern preventive action initiated against anti-social elements. In contrast, the police bosses are not finding fault at field level for the 11 murders reported last month. “Not a single murder was preventable. Neither the victim nor the accused had earlier approached the police, nor were there any indication of any rivalry. We have gone through the records and not even a non-cognisable (NC) offence was registered against any party related to the murders,” stated a top police official. 

Distrust among citizens 

 

The official further stated that almost all the hard-core criminals were already behind bars due to preventive action. Therefore, city has not witnessed any major crime event and as to murders they appear more of immediate mood swing and not part of any rivalry. A retired police official commented that if the people were not approaching the police for their problems and taking the law in their hands, it indicating lack of trust in the system. “If not a single person in 11 murder cases did not approach police, it shows people want to settle their scores among themselves". It’s a time for the top rank officials to take stock of the situation of non-cognisable (NC) complaints and small complaints filed by the citizens at police stations. As sizable numbers of small complaints do not get the attention of police station staff, the matters get worsened and turned into physical fighting. Police station staff should be sensitised to settle NC matters and petty disputes in their jurisdictions to win the confidence of the public, the retired official opined. 

 

 Liquor ruining lives 

 

After the sudden spurt in murder cases, the top officials had an internal meeting to discuss reason for sudden rise in body offences. One stark fact that came to notice that in majority of the cases, both the victim as well as accused were indulging in drinking binge and the murder took place all of a sudden. Not just in March, liquor was found influencing’ the killers in sizable number of murder cases reported in past few years, said an official who was present at the meeting. 

 

23 robberies in a month

 

About 23 robberies were registered in March which indicated boldness among the criminals. Of these, three were chain-snatchings and the remaining were mobile phone robberies. On March 25, four senior citizens were looted by fake policemen early in the morning. Most of these serious offences occurred during the day under the network coverage of 3,000 CCTV cameras. Why are the criminals emboldened at such a level that they are freely committing robberies on streets, questioned the retired police official?

 

Murders were not technically preventable: CP When asked, Commissioner of Police (CP) Amitesh Kumar said that the murders were not technically preventable as maximum murders were reported within the family. “Some of the murders took place within the four walls of the house and the cops were unable to prevent it,” he said, adding that street murders are on declining in city. On the issue of spurt in robberies, the CP claimed that almost every robbery case is being registered and detected by the city police. “Our focus is on the arrest of the accused,” he said and claimed that the fake policemen robbery cases were also detected by the police.

 

The Murder file

 

March 5 - Raju Cheliksawai (35) was murdered by Aman Meshram (22) and others under the influence of liquor in Nandanvan area.

 

March 12 - Vilas Gawte killed his wife Ranjana (36) and daughter (13) in MIDC area.

 

March 13 - Shubham Nanote (23) was killed by his brother Narendra (27) and mother in the Nandanvan area.

 

March 15 - Auto-rickshaw driver Vikrant Bankar (24) was killed by his friend Ganesh Bhendewar (42) in a drunken brawl in Kalamna area.

 

March 17 - Sonu Bankar (30) killed by roommate Damodar Dastathiwar (45) under the influence of liquor in Pardi area.

 

March 22 - Manish Yadav (25), a fruit vendor killed by three following a dispute over sharing a marijuana-laced cigarette in Kotwali area. 

 

March 23 - Saliram Parasia (31) was killed by a teenager in the Wathoda area.

 

March 27 - Deepa Jugal Das (41) was murdered by a couple over monetary disputes.

 

March 31 - Jaikishan Jawankar was brutally killed by his brother-in-law over a property dispute in Hudkeshwar.

 

March 31 - Ashish Bisen (26) was stoned to death by Nilendra Baghel (25) in MIDC area for using obscene words for his wife.