Mumbai: A top Mumbai Police official Tuesday claimed that the force had 'broken the backbone' of the Mumbai underworld with a multi-pronged strategy.
"There has not been a single encounter killing in Mumbai in 2011, which indicates that the city is much safer, though the number of economic offences went up," said Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik.
Detailing the status of crime in Mumbai last year, Patnaik said that 177 extortion cases were reported in 2011, of which 158 were detected.
"This was lower than the 198 cases of extortion calls registered in 2010 with 176 detections. Extortion calls from gangsters and mafia leaders have come down to 10 per cent of their peak figure," Patnaik said.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Himanshu Roy said that the activities and influence of gangster Santosh Shetty and his gang have been brought to 'a grinding halt' with his arrest and extradition from Bangkok last year.
Even the absconding gangster Chhota Rajan's gang suffered a major setback with the arrest of his key aides like D.K. Rao, Paulson Joseph, Vinod Chembur, Umed-ur-Rehman and Satish Kalya in major cases like journalist Jyotirmoy Dey's murder, Chhote Miya and Asif Dadhi cases and the Pakmodia Street firing case.
Another gangster, Ijaz Lakdawala was dealt a blow with the arrest of his shooters in the JJ Marg firing case, and several sharp-shooters of the Ravi Pujari gang have also been arrested.
"There has been a 100 percent detection of all shooting incidents related to the underworld," Roy pointed out.
Detailing the work of the Economic Offences Wing, Roy said it registered 120 cases involving property worth Rs.8.72 billion in 2011. This was a significant increase from the 87 offences to the tune of Rs.3.35 billion registered in 2010.
On this front, a major achievement for the police was the nabbing of key players of the Singapore-based Speak AsiaOnline Ltd, which had committed many frauds.
Patnaik and Roy assured that a series of steps have been initiated to detect complex economic offences, cyber crimes and 'Nigerian-style' financial fraud cases.
IANS
First Published: Wednesday, January 11, 2012, 00:26