New data reveals Delhi accounts for a staggering number of theft cases in India, dwarfing other major metropolitan cities and raising concerns about crime rates.
Key Points
- Delhi accounts for nearly three-fourths of all theft cases registered in 19 major metro cities in India.
- In 2024, Delhi reported 1,80,973 theft cases, averaging approximately 497 cases per day.
- Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Jaipur follow Delhi with significantly lower numbers of theft cases.
- Theft constitutes 87.9 per cent of all property crime cases in India, making it the most prevalent offence.
Delhi dominated theft statistics, with almost 497 cases per day, and nearly three-fourths of all such cases registered in 19 major metro cities, according to the latest Crime in India report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on Wednesday.
Out of 2,80,867 cases registered under 'offences against property' in 2024, theft was the most prevalent offence with 2,46,882 cases, making up 87.9 per cent of all property crime cases.
Delhi's Alarming Theft Statistics
Delhi reported a staggering 1,80,973 theft cases in 2024, resulting in almost 3,480 cases per week, and roughly 497 cases per day, which is 73.3 per cent of the national total - a major lead over other metropolitan centres.
Other Metropolitan Cities
Mumbai followed with 10,854 cases (4.4 per cent), Bengaluru 9,229 cases (3.7 per cent) and Jaipur 9,051 cases (3.7 per cent), according to the report.
Decline in Property Crimes
In 2024, crimes under the 'offences against property' header dipped by 14.4 per cent from 2023, when 3,28,100 cases were recorded.
Theft as a Major Crime Category
According to the data, across the spectrum of IPC and BNS crimes (5,93,096 cases), theft emerged as the single largest crime category, accounting for 41.6 per cent of all registered cases.
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