Minor spike in crime rate in Sathya Sai district in 2025

Sri Sathya Sai district registered a minor spike of 2 per cent in the overall crime rate, with 4,028 cases registered in 2025, compared to 3,947 cases in 2024.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Superintendent of Police (SP) S. Satish Kumar said that the rise was mainly due to property offences, crimes against women, and economic offences, while highlighting a notable decline in serious bodily crimes. He said that murders showed a marginal rise from 52 to 54 cases, but kidnappings declined slightly from 26 to 25.

Among major achievements, district police cracked a high-profile Hindupur bank theft, recovering 5.5 kg of gold worth ₹5.5 crore, and detained notorious fraudster ‘Dal Mill Suri’ under PD Act in a ₹300-crore scam. Foolproof security was successfully provided during the centenary celebrations of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, attended by top national leaders, the SP said.

The SP observed that grievous hurt cases dropped sharply by over 50 per cent, reflecting improved preventive policing. Road safety indicators also showed mixed trends — fatalities in road accidents declined by 11 per cent (from 340 to 303), though non-fatal injuries rose by 16 per cent. Crimes against women increased significantly by 26.3 per cent, driven largely by a sharp rise in POCSO cases (47 per cent), harassment (40 per cent), and outraging modesty cases (24 per cent). However, rape, dowry deaths, and women-related kidnappings recorded a decline.

Mr. Satish Kumar maintained that property offences rose marginally by 1.7 per cent, while economic offences, including cheating and criminal breach of trust, saw an increase of over 14 per cent. Cybercrime cases remained largely stable. On the enforcement front, police registered nearly 23,500 e-challan cases, collected over ₹1.01 crore in fines, booked 2,969 open drinking cases, and seized over ₹52 lakh in gambling-related operations.