Visakhapatnam: Belying tall claims by the AP police about its ability to crack every property offence within days, its recovery of stolen properties has been pretty low in Andhra Pradesh, latest official figures have shown. The annual report released by the National Crime Records Bureau-2015 says AP had reported a theft of properties worth over Rs 121 crore in 2015, but the police could recover stolen articles worth only Rs 55.32 crore, which is less than half (45.6 per cent).
The AP police said that over 17,000 cases of burglary, theft and dacoity were reported in the state last year. Most such cases were reported from Vijayawada and Vizag cities —1,350 cases. Acro-ss the country, property offences showed an incre-ase of 23 per cent in terms of worth of property stolen, compared to 2014 when property of over Rs 91 crore was stolen.
DCP (Crime) T. Ravi Kumar Murthy said they have been busting several gangs and arresting inter-state burglars and robbers in property-related cases. However, cops have not been able to recover the entire stolen property, as it would have already changed several hands by the time arrests are made, he said. Sources in police said that, in some cases, they were able to recover gold and silver ornaments, but it was difficult to recover stolen cash, vehicles and high-end electronic goods. They would immediately change hands.
However, the victims of property offences blamed cops for their poor investigation skills. NCRB data says Tamil Nadu police managed to recover 65.4 per cent of the total Rs 131 crore worth of stolen properties, creating a record of effecting the highest recovery level in the country. This was followed by Telangana with 57.8 per cent recovery; Punjab with 56.2 per cent and Rajasthan with 52 per cent. AP stands fifth in the rankings.
