Number of murders has gone down this year: Punjab DGP

CHANDIGARH: With the Aam Aadmi Party government facing flak from the opposition over a spate of murder cases in Punjab, director general of police VK Bhawra on Monday said the number of killings per month in the state has reduced and police were making efforts to decrease it further.

Addressing a press conference here, DGP Bhawra said a total of 158 murders took place till March this year with an average of around 50 murders per month. A total of 724 murders happened in 2021, with an average of 60-65 cases per month.

“This trend is revealing murders have decreased marginally in the state but this is also not a happy trend and the police is making efforts to decrease it further,” Bhawra said during a press conference here.

He was accompanied by ADGP Internal Security RN Dhoke and ADGP Promod Ban, who is the AGTF chief.

158 murders took place till March this year with average of around 50 per month. It stood at 60-65 cases per month in 2021. VK BHAWRA, Punjab DGP

‘Gangsters involved in only six cases’

In the murder cases this year, direct and indirect involvement of gangsters was found only in six cases, all of which have been traced after a thorough investigation, DGP Bhawra said, adding a total of 24 accused involved in these cases have been arrested along with a recovery of arms and vehicles.

All these were blind murders in which culprits were not known, he said, adding that efforts are on to arrest the remaining accused.

He said that police were taking action against organised gangs and criminals since January 1, 2022, and various units of the Punjab Police have busted 16 gangster modules and arrested 98 individuals involved in these activities. A large cache of weapons has been recovered from them.

Apart from these, there were nine non-gangster related murders that took place this year. They have all been traced and most of the accused have been arrested, said the DGP. He said that family/matrimonial dispute, rivalry or monetary dispute were among the main reasons behind these crimes.