new delhi: The National Crime Records Bureau's (NCRB) annual crime report for 2019 showed that the number of people arrested in Delhi for white-collar crimes had increased from the previous year. The data showed that 902 people landed up in Delhi's jails last year for cheating, criminal breach of trust, and corruption cases and other white-collar crimes.
As per data, of these, 760 are undertrials and 142 are convicts. The data further shows that 30 people were in prison for their involvement in cases related to criminal breach of trust; 676 undertrials were found involved in cheating cases, and 45 people were arrested for in corruption cases. Nine people were jailed for their involvement in offences related to documents, property marks (counterfeiting).
In terms of convicts, as many as 21 people landed up in Delhi Prisons for their involvement in cases related to criminal breach of trust. Whereas 85 cheaters were jailed last year. 30 people were arrested under the Prevention of Corruption Act whereas six were held for crimes related to documents and property marks (counterfeiting).
In 2018, as many as 678 people were found in jails for white-collar crimes. As per data, 136 of these were convicts and 542 were undertrials.
Several cases of cheating and fraud were reported last year, among which real estate fraud was one of the major ones, which turned homebuyers' dreams into a nightmare. As per Delhi Police till August 7, 2019, as many as 89 cases were registered against builders and real estate companies which were probed by the 0Economic and Offences Wing of Delhi Police. About 41 people were nabbed in these cases.
Speaking to Millennium Post, Joint Commissioner of Police (EOW) OP Mishra said, "While investing in property or any housing scheme investors do not take certain precautions and discover the other dimensions of property at a later stage." He further said that people must verify the status of the land, property and must physically visit the site to see the actual status of construction. They should also verify whether concerned requisite permission has been obtained from concerned civic agencies or not. They should have proper requisite receipts for the payments, he added.
In cyber fraud cases, people are duped due to their lack of knowledge which becomes an advantage for cybercriminals. "Innocent people don't have much knowledge about the links sent by these fraudsters and when they click that link, their money gets transferred and they are cheated," the official said. According to the senior officer, government and police regularly create awareness among people to safeguard themselves from such crimes.
Last year, the national Capital also witnessed several cases of criminal breach of trust where the accused dishonestly misappropriated money for their benefit. In one such case, the EOW had arrested one constable posted in the accounts department of Outer district in connection with alleged financial irregularities amounting to Rs 19.44 lakh.
In another case, the Delhi Police had nabbed three people including the complainant's employee for misappropriating 25.7 kilograms of gold jewellery. One of the accused was fond of gambling on IPL cricket matches, where he suffered huge losses and to recover the losses, the accused had hatched the plan. Last year, the Delhi Police had also told all officers to brief their staff about its zero-tolerance policy against corruption.