Tempted to take a lift home? Watch out, you could get mugged.

Tempted to take a lift home? Watch out, you could get mugged. As the crime rate soars, thieves and cheats are adopting new methods to fool citizens

A T Subrahmanya | TNN


Bangalore: New methods, greater activity. The business of petty crime in Bangalore is seeing a boom. Burglars, thieves and con artists are having a ball and citizens are paying for a split-second’s distraction. Let your guard down and you could be the next victim.
Arun Kumar learnt this the hard way. While returning from Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations a week ago, he chanced upon an accident victim surrounded by a mob. When he offered to help, the crowd melted away. Six men who stayed behind snatched his cellphone at knifepoint and fled.
Statistics for July 2008 at the City Crime Records Bureau point to an increase in the number of burglaries and robberies compared to the same month in 2007. Thieves and cheats, too, have had it better this year.
Seventy-seven robberies were reported in July 2008, as against 48 in the same month in 2007. Over 160 cases of burglary were filed in July this year; it was 116 in the same month last year. As for thefts, 918 were reported in July 2008 and 684 in July 2007.
While the rise in crime is obvious from the records, what’s alarming is that criminals seem to be adopting newer methods. The latest is to lure victims with the offer of a ride, often late in the evening. In areas where few buses ply after dark, commuters grab the chance to get home early. However, they end up being robbed of valuables. Over 10 such incidents took place in just the past one week.
Burglaries and thefts are also rising. A locked door has become an invitation for burglars who take advantage of residents’ absence to loot the house. Cheating cases, too, are being reported more frequently.
DCP (crime) ND Mulla dismissed this as a temporary phenomenon. “End-of-the-year statistics will show a decrease in the crime rate. And even if crime has increased, the percentage of detection and recovery has risen alongside,’’ he added.