Crime rate soars,colonies emerge as city’s underbelly

On December 29,2009,a fruit seller in Dadumajra colony was murdered while he was on his way back home from work. Rajesh Kumar was allegedly stabbed by his relative,who had attempted to rob him.

In another incident,on January 17,an 18-year-old on his way home from work was accosted by some miscreants,most of them in their teens,who stabbed him to death. The victim had a quarrel with two of the accused a couple of days ago,which resulted in the offence.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (East) J S Cheema attributed the crime to poverty and lack of care by parents. “Most of these children swear allegiance to one gang or another functioning in the area which have their hideouts in jungles where they take drugs and plan criminal acts,” he said.

On February 1,another murder took place in Colony Number 4,when Shampati alias Sheru,22,was stabbed to death after six members of a gang beat him up for not paying the extortion money they had demanded from him.

Noting the emergence of these colonies as the city’s underbelly,Senior Superintendent of Police S S Srivastva said the colonies are prone to crime and criminal activity because of social reasons.

“Most of these youths are unemployed and take drugs. They hardly have any source of income,and with no support from families they tend to go astray,” he said.

Colonies bursting at the seams
One-third of the city’s population is estimated to be living in the colonies falling mostly on the peripheral areas of the city. They include Colony Number 4,Colony Number 5,Bapu Dham,Indira colony,Dadumajra colony,Ram Darbar and Mauli Jagran.