As many as 118,965 persons were arrested for economic offences across the country in 2020.
Cases of economic offences declined 12 percent to 145,754 in pandemic-hit 2020 from 145,754 in the previous year, according to the Crime in India 2020 report by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
Forgery, Cheating and Fraud (FCF) led the tally of economic offences, accounting for 88 percent or 127,724 cases, followed by Criminal Breach of Trust, 17,358, and Counterfeiting, 672.
Rajasthan reported the highest number of economic offences cases, 18,528, in 2020, followed by Uttar Pradesh, 16,708; Telangana, 12,985; Maharashtra, 12,453; and Assam, 9,884. These five states account for 48 percent of all the cases reported in the country.
However, in terms of the rate of economic offences, crime rate calculated per 100,000 population, Telangana was worst hit with 34.6; followed by Assam, 28.4; Kerala, 25.8; Rajasthan, 23.6; and Haryana, 23.2. The rate of economic offences for India was recorded at 10.8.
As many as 118,965 persons were arrested for economic offences across the country in 2020. The NCRB has also introduced chargesheeting rate as a better indicator of police performance. Puducherry reports a chargesheeting rate of 97.9 percent for economic offences, followed by Punjab, 77; and Madhya Pradesh, 76.2. The chargesheeting rate for India stands at 53.5. States like Meghalaya, 9.4; Rajasthan, 15.4; and Assam, 20.8, report low chargesheeting rates.
Recently, the Delhi police busted a gang of four economic offenders allegedly involved in insurance fraud, duping at least 54 retired army officers for Rs 1.15 crore. On September 5, the economic offences wing of the Delhi police arrested actor Leena Maria Paul, the partner of Sukesh Chandrashekhar who was arrested for allegedly duping Aditi Singh, wife of the former promoter of Ranbaxy, Shivinder Singh, of Rs 200 crore.
Among metropolitan cities, having a population of over 2 million, Delhi city has reported the most 4,445 cases of economic offences in 2020, followed by Mumbai, 3,927; Hyderabad, 3,427; Jaipur, 3,217; and Lucknow, 2,224. Jaipur reported a high rate of economic offences at 104.7, followed by Lucknow, 76.7; Patna, 49.7; and Hyderabad, 44.2.
In all, 19 metropolitan cities have reported 26,970 cases of economic offences in 2020, a 21 percent decline from 33,979 in 2019.
The NCRB also records crimes registered under special acts and local laws, classified as Finance and Economic Acts. Under this, 27,042 cases were reported in 2020, nearly 75 percent of which were registered under The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, followed by The Lotteries Regulation Act, 5,773 and Prevention of Corruption Act (982).
