News Reporter

Five deaths in two major fatal accidents on Shaheed Gowari and Sakkardara fly-over within a fortnight raises a question mark on traffic management and safety measures on these bridges. Lane cutting, overtaking, overspeeding, using mobile while driving are regular rule violations on the city over-bridges by negligent drivers. In fact, the deterrent of law is the main factor as violators are going scot free even after snuffing out lives.  In the past eight months, 13 persons were killed and 18 injured seriously in various accidents reported on fly-overs in the city, according to data compiled by traffic police. A police official privy to the investigations of the two fatalities said that two things were common in recent these two major accidents -- first thing was the vehicles were driven at great break-neck speed and second was the height of the parapet wall, it was not enough to save the bike riders falling from the bridge.  In the Sakkardara bridge case, the negligent car dri...

Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Nagpur Division, drive against corruption netted 58 State Government officials till August this year. Though these are all time high traps by ACB, it also indicates the culture of corruption prevailing in the system. A comparison with ACB traps for the same period of last year shows a jump of 18.96 per cent in corruption cases in the division. Catching nine Class-I officers red-handed while accepting the bribe by ACB this year showcased the corruption in high-ranks. The data compiled by ACB reveals that 56 corrupt officials were trapped by ACB till August in the year 2020. The number decreased to 47 with - 16.07 per cent for the same period of 2021. In 2022 however the number of successful traps increased by 18.96 per cent with the arrest of 58 corrupt officials till August. Data of department-wise action of ACB stated that of these 58 corrupt officials arrested this year, 16 were from Revenue Department, followed by eight from Police, six from Rural Devel...

Nagpur CP Amitesh Kumar The Nagpur city ranked sixth in crime rate among the 19 metropolitan cities of India and first in the State last year, revealed by the Crime in India 2021 report published by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).As per the NCRB, the police stations in Nagpur Police Commissionerate registered 13,312 cases under different Sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC), at the rate of 532.9 per lakh population of Nagpur in 2021. Amitesh Kumar was the Commissioner of Police of Nagpur in 2021. While Mumbai city recorded 63,689 IPC crimes with crime rate of 345.9, Pune recorded 9,511 IPC crimes with crime rate of 188.3. The statistics is a commentary on the law and order situation in the city, where frustration among the populace about lack of adequate opportunities seems to play a major role in youth taking to crime to further their dreams. The crime rate describes the number of crimes reported to law enforcement agencies per lakh population. A crime rate is calculated by divid...

Nagpur CP Amitesh Kumar Seventeen robberies within a span of nine days shows an alarming rise in street crime which has shaken the city police. With the onset of monsoon, the crime graph in the city normally tends to nose dive. All of sudden the robbers are on a looting spree indicating the loosening grip of the law and enforcement agency. According to statistics of Nagpur police, a whooping 17 robberies were reported between August 1 to 9. In July and June, the city police registered 13 and 4 robbery cases respectively. In these 19 robbery cases, the victims were pedestrians or travelling on the two-wheelers and targeted by the robbers on the busy streets.  Despite round the clock surveillance of 3,200 CCTV cameras, the robbers could still escape to their destination. Bajaj Nagar, Gittikhadan, Hudkeshwar, Sitabuldi, Nandanvan and Pardi are the most affected police stations from where this daring loots were reported. Not only the streets have become unsafe, the robbers are striking...

Nagpur Police which is drawing flak from all corners for spurt in street crimes also suffered another ignominy as the conviction rate of murder cases in recent years has dropped alarmingly. The fall in conviction rate exposes the tall claim of senior police officials about keeping crime and criminals under control. Shoddy investigation, faulty chargesheets and backtracking of witnesses were the prime reason for drop in conviction rate. Nagpur police have been able to punish on an average only 27 out of 100 murder accused. In 2016, the then Chief Minister and now Dy CM of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, had directed the Nagpur police officials to improve the conviction to put a check on emboldened criminals. However, the investigation machinery of the Commissionerate miserably failed to achieve the goal in the past one-and-a-half-years. CP Amitesh Kumar As per the statistics, the court upheld prosecution's story in only eight cases from 71 that were decided in 2017 resulting in just...

FOR the first time in living memory, not a single murder case was reported in Nagpur city for the entire February month. For a city, criticised as the ‘crime capital’ of Maharashtra for high number of violent crimes just a few years ago, the development has come has a big booster in its image building. Commissioner of Police (CP) Amitesh Kumar attributed the success to the hard work of police personnel. “Identifying criminals and targeting them with preventive action, intensified patrolling, total closure of illegal activities, continuous checking of criminals on record are some of the efforts that have borne fruits,” he said. The result was the impact of the continuous deterrent policing over the years, Kumar added.   Though February month reported zero murder cases, the impact of crime prevention tactics was evident from December last year. As per statistics, Nagpur city witnesses six to seven murders every month. However, drop in murder cases was observed from December 2021 (fiv...

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...