By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Oct. 30: Despite increased security surveillance during Dashain festival, the nation registered a total of 11 murder cases including one in the Kathmandu Valley, according to Nepal Police on Thursday.
A man working in a brick kiln in Bhaktapur was killed by his own friends on the ninth day of Bada Dashain on October 25. The row was over a girlfriend, said Superintendent of Police (SP) Ishwar Karki at Metropolitan Police Crime Division, Kathmandu.
No other serious crime is reported in the Valley during this festival, SP Karki said.
Similarly, four incidents related to forceful rape were reported from October 23 to 27 across the country, according to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kuber Kadayat and spokesperson at Nepal Police Headquarters, Naxal.
43 accident deaths in 5 days
Similarly, a total of 334 road accidents took place within five days from October 23 to 27, in which 43 people died and 529 were injured. Also, 16 cases of drug smuggling and abuse were registered in Nepal Police, said SSP Kadayat.
According to him, in a total of 334 road accidents, 520 vehicles were involved.
In Kathmandu Valley, 115 vehicles alone met with road accidents, according to the record of Nepal Police Headquarters.
The Police Headquarters will publish the comparative data regarding the incidents that happened within Dashain on November 1 only, according to SSP Kadayat.
Meanwhile, Metropolitan Police Office, Ranipokhari said 11 theft cases were registered in the Valley from October 17 to 27. Among them, 10 theft cases had been reported in Kathmandu and one in Bhaktapur district, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sushil Kumar Yadav said.
Similarly, 31 social offence cases were registered in the Valley, among them 27 registered in Kathmandu, three in Lalitpur and one in Bhaktpur district from October 17 to 27.
During Dashain festival, two forceful rape charge sheets, one gambling, five attempts to murder cases, three frauds, 44 banking offences (43 in Kathmandu and one in Lalitpur) and seven cases related to death by vehicles (five in Kathmandu, two in Lalitpur) were registered in Kathmandu within these days, according to SSP Yadav.
According to Yadav, this year the Metropolitan Police Office had deployed over 4,300 security personnel targeting to minimize crimes in the Valley.
“We have deployed 25 per cent more personnel than at other times to provide security throughout the festive season,” Yadav said.
Security personnel were deployed on foot, bicycles, motorcycles and vehicles for seal and search, cordon and search, picketing, ambushing and vigilance, and cross-checking operations, said police.
Social crimes, domestic violence and burglary are the biggest problems in the cities during festive time, said Yadav.
“Murder, attempted murder, fraud, human trafficking, rape, attempted rape, kidnapping, drug smuggling, robbery, dealing in small arms, theft, cybercrime and social crime remain the biggest challenges to law and order and it is these cases that have been filed,” said Yadav.
Security officials conceded that the crime rate had yet to subside and attributed it to unemployment and financial temptation. Crime rates are higher in big cities than in small ones and rural areas as the chances of being recognised and arrested in a large mobile population are lower, according to police.