NEW DELHI, July 26: Police Commissioner V.N. Singh is weary of reading about the spate of robberies in the Capital. Armed with facts, figures and graphs, he argued: ``The media is projecting a rise in crime which does not match with ground realities. Their aggressive projection policy affects our credibility.''Attributing the rise in robberies to the free registration policy being adopted by the police, he said, ``On the one hand, you accuse us of not registering complaints and on the other hand, when we register cases, which implies a rise in the crime graph, you accuse us of inefficiency and failure to handle crime.What you fail to keep in mind is the rising population, the mushrooming of slums, inadequacy of civil amenities and criminal gangs coming from other states and operating in Delhi.'' Commenting on the nature of reports in newspapers, the police commissioner added, ``I had gone to Chandigarh in 1987. The impression I got from newspaper reports was that the city was on fire. But when I went there I discovered that the city was safer than Delhi.''On whether the ``aggressive media coverage'' was a conscious attempt to oust him from office, Singh said, ``There is something in the air. Maybe, it has something to do with the November elections. But I have no idea about what it is exactly. '' He, however, admitted that the number of robbery cases had gone up alarmingly after criminal gangs based in neighbouring states like Haryana and UP had become active in the Capital. ``These gangs leave their dens and are drawn by the affluence and conspicuous consumption of the people here.''Supporting this claim, the Delhi police supplied information about persons from neighbouring states involved in cases of robbery and car theft in the Capital: Naresh Kumar from Ghaziabad, Azad Singh, Hoshiar Singh and Yashpal from Sonipat, Dalbir and Manoj from Panipat, Ram Kumar from Hissar, and Mukesh and Bijender from Jind.A total of 405 cases have been registered in the past six-and-a-half months, with the highest number of 90 being recorded in June. As many as 41 such incidents have been reported in the first 15 days of July.The commissioner said that the police have drawn up an ambitious action plan to prevent the recurrence of robberies in the Capital. The plan includes drawing up schemes at various levels and activating district administrations, besides identification of certain gangs which are most likely to commit such crimes.The high court had on Wednesday asked the Delhi police commissioner and the Union Home Ministry to explain the reason behind the deteriorating law and order situation in the Capital and expressed its displeasure over inaction to contain the ``lawlessness''.
