New Delhi, Sep 30 (PTI) Every week in 2023, Delhi reported nearly 88 new cases of economic offences on an average, adding up to 4,586 in the year, which was highest among Union territories, according to the latest NCRB data.

The picture that emerges is one of a city grappling with a wide range of financial crimes, from everyday scams to high-value frauds running into crores of rupees. Of the total cases in the National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) data for the UT, about 93 per cent (4,286 cases) were filed under forgery, cheating and fraud.

Another 262 cases were linked to criminal breach of trust, where money or property placed in someone’s care is dishonestly misused, and 38 cases related to counterfeiting, including fake notes and forged stamps.

The rate of economic offences in Delhi stood at 21.4 per lakh population, compared with the national UT average of 14.7, according to the NCRB Crime in India 2023 report.

The money involved in some of the economic offences were staggering. As many as 1,942 cases involved between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 10 lakh and 921 cases involved losses of less than Rs 1 lakh. Another 433 fell in the Rs 10 lakh to Rs 50 lakh range and 217 in the Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore bracket.

At the higher end, 87 cases reported losses between Rs one crore and Rs 10 crore, 30 between Rs 10 crore and Rs 25 crore, and 17 between Rs 25 crore and Rs 50 crore. Nine cases even involved losses of between Rs 50 crore and Rs 100 crore, while three cases crossed the Rs 100 crore mark.

The spread shows how Delhi’s economic crimes ranged from everyday cheating to rare but very large-scale frauds.

On the policing front, the year began with 16,492 pending cases from 2022 in the UT data. With 4,586 fresh complaints added, the total cases under investigation rose to 21,078.

Arrests ran into the thousands. Police picked up 3,807 people in economic offence cases during the year, including 3,713 men and 94 women, and 2,923 were charge-sheeted.

In the UT category, Delhi recorded a charge sheeting rate of 53.8 per cent, slightly below the national UT percentage of 54.5. The pendency percentage in Delhi UT was 80.3 percent, far higher than the national UT average of 55.2.

In the metropolitan city category, which covers 19 cities with more than two million population, Delhi logged 4,580 economic offence cases in 2023, ranking behind Mumbai, Hyderabad and Jaipur.

The city-level breakdown was almost identical to the UT figures , 4,281 forgery, cheating and fraud cases, 261 of criminal breach of trust, and 38 of counterfeiting.

The rate of economic offences in metropolitan Delhi stood at 28.1 per lakh population, against a national city average of 14.7.

Delhi began the year with 15,905 pending cases from 2022 in the metropolitan category. With 4,580 new complaints added, cases under probe totalled 20,485.

The charge sheeting rate in Delhi (metro) stood at 53.8 per cent, slightly above the national metro figure of 51.6. Pendency was higher in the capital, with 79.7 per cent of cases awaiting completion compared with 67.5 percent nationwide.

In the national city rankings, Delhi came fourth with 4,580 while Mumbai reported the most economic offences among metros with 6,476 cases, followed by Hyderabad with 5,728, Jaipur with 5,304 offences.

In the key sub-category of cheating and fraud in economic crimes, Delhi ranked third with 4,281, while Hyderabad topped with 5,593 cases and Mumbai followed with 5,244.

Delhi was also the highest among Union Territories in every category of economic offences, followed by Jammu and Kashmir with 820 reported economic offenses, Chandigarh (312), Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu (128), Puducherry (94) and Andaman & Nicobar Islands (93).

The NCRB compiles its annual report from data supplied by state police, Union Territories and central agencies. The statistics are prepared under the principal offence rule, where only the most serious crime in a case is recorded for counting.

Officials point out that higher figures may sometimes reflect better reporting and registration practices in large cities rather than a sudden surge in incidents. PTI SGV SKY SKY