Positive signs: Murder rate declines in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha has witnessed a decline in murder cases over the previous year and there was no murder due to communalism or casteism, revealed a data released by the police.As many as 1,267 murder cases were registered in the State in 2017 against 1,328 cases reported in 2016.

According to police, while 697 men and 549 women were killed in 2017, the number in 2016 stood at 683 and 659 respectively. Even as the statistics show that there was an overall decline in murder cases last year as compared to 2016, the number of men killed during the year has reduced significantly.

Crime Branch ADG Santosh Upadhyay informed that 306 cases of dowry deaths were registered in 2017 while 115 persons were killed allegedly because of personal vendetta and old enmity. Besides this, 71 deaths reported in 2017 were allegedly due to love intrigue and 50 deaths were because of property dispute. Similarly, 32 persons were allegedly killed for personal gains.

The police data further mentions that 84.4 per cent murder cases were detected in 2017 and 1,589 culprits were apprehended. Some of the cases registered under Section 302 of IPC turned out not to be murder cases during investigation. “Investigation brought down the actual number of murder cases to 1213. About 54 persons had died due to other reasons, including road accidents,” Upadhyay said.

Although no death was reported due to communalism or casteism in 2017, five deaths were reported due to the activities of the extremists in the State. The deaths reported due to activities of the extremists’ in 2016 was comparatively higher with 11 fatalities.

“Of 1,267 murder cases registered in the State last year, charge sheets of 643 have already been submitted in different courts,” the senior police officer said and added that the charge sheets of 381 cases will be submitted soon.