Jamshedpur : The biggest challenge for the city police now is the growing menace of theft cases. At least five cases of theft are being reported from parts of city everyday as police struggle to contain the crime.
SSP Amol V Homkar said that police have increased vigil during night hours to restrict the unscrupulous elements from taking advantage of the situation. �We have arrested several people and recovered goods from them,� the SSP added.
As per police reports, those who commit thefts range from juveniles to migrant workers and stolen items include electrical goods including cell phones and laptops, gold ornaments and other household materials.
The target of the criminals is mostly posh localities of the city. A government official said that there is a need to conduct a study on whether the theft cases have anything to do with the growing unemployment problem in the city.
The power crisis that had hit the city resulting in hours of load shedding has also resulted in an increase in the number of theft cases.
It is believed that these thieves are basically burglars. In the past, when theft cases were on the rise, a trend of people keeping vigil at night in certain localities had emerged.
But the same only brought further fear among the residents as wrong people were assaulted or taken into custody more often than not.
A city resident recently said that the police can be more pro-active by way of increasing the patrol especially at night in vulnerable localities to ensure better safety. Regular interaction of police with the elders of the localities is another option, he added.
Meanwhile the district police arrested five persons, including two minors for indulging in house thefts and buying stolen goods. The police recovered a laptop and a cellphone from the possession of the arrested minors who are residents of Adityapur and Sonari respectively.
Those arrested for committing thefts were identified as Budhram Lohar, Deepak Lohar and Vishal Yadav, and the two who bought the stolen goods were minors.
The trio who were caught for the thefts were active in stealing goods from the posh localities in Kagalnagar and West Layout in Sonari since the past six months.
The three thieves, who are the residents of slums at Sonari would first carry out past midnight and would make their attempt to steal the goods when the inmates of the house were asleep. The last time they committed theft was at the house of Sachin Mittal in Sonari West Layout on July 29 night.
Disclosing about the detection of the theft, officer-in-charge, Sonari police station Animesh Gupta said that the three thieves had stolen the laptop and the cellphone from the first floor of the two-storeyed building.
The officer-in-charge said Mittal had lodged an FIR with the Sonari police station against unknown on July 30, leading the police to swing into action.
The police also sent the three thieves to the Ghaghidih Central Jail after production before the chief judicial magistrate and the two minors were forwarded to the Ghaghidih-based remand home.
Informing about his plan, the officer-in-charge said that they would bring the three thieves into police remand so as to find out the houses they had committed thefts in the past.
