Delhi emerges as ‘theft’ capital with 497 cases lodged every day, NCRB data reveals

Delhi dominated theft statistics, with almost 497 cases per day, and nearly three-fourths of all such cases registered nationally, according to the latest Crime in India report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on Wednesday.

Out of 2,80,867 cases registered under ‘offences against property’ in 2024, theft was the most prevalent offence with 2,46,882 cases, making up 87.9 per cent of all property crime cases.

Delhi reported a staggering 1,80,973 theft cases in 2024, resulting in almost 3,480 cases per week, and roughly 497 cases per day, which is 73.3 per cent of the national total — a major lead over other metropolitan centres.

Mumbai followed with 10,854 cases (4.4 per cent), Bengaluru 9,229 cases (3.7 per cent) and Jaipur 9,051 cases (3.7 per cent), according to the report.

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In 2024, crimes under the ‘offences against property’ header dipped by 14.4 per cent from 2023, when 3,28,100 cases were recorded.

According to the data, across the spectrum of IPC and BNS crimes (5,93,096 cases), theft emerged as the single largest crime category, accounting for 41.6 per cent of all registered cases.