Cong stages walkout from C'garh assembly over 'rising' crime

The opposition Congress today staged a walkout from the Chhattisgarh Assembly alleging poor law and order situation in the state.
Raising the issue through a call attention motion notice, the Leader of Opposition T S Singhdeo, state Congress president Bhupesh Baghel and senior party MLA Satyanarayan Sharma said the law and order situation has deteriorated in the state, where incidents of theft, dacoity, loot and murder are frequently reported.
To support their point, they listed a few incidents that had taken place in the state recently.
They said, on November 24, unidentified burglars had stolen cash to the tune of lakhs of rupees and jewelleries from a State Bank of India (SBI) branch in Mandhar area in Raipur.

Two days later, some masked robbers had looted Rs 63 lakh cash from the office of a private company that is into the business of protecting, vaulting and storing valuable assets in Janjgir-Champa district.
Similarly, a gang of robbers also looted Rs 5.64 lakh in Arang area, they said.

"Offenders are still at large after committing the crimes," they added.
As per the official statistics, 1,160 cases of murder, 442 cases of loot, 7,429 theft cases, 83 cases of dacoity and 2,210 cases of rape were registered between April 1, 2016 and June 30, 2017 in the state, the opposition members said.

In his reply, Home Minister Ramsewak Paikra said that two persons have been arrested in connection with Mandhar bank dacoity case and cash worth Rs 17 lakh and 359 gram gold were recovered from them.
Likewise, in the Janjgir-Champa case, five accused have been arrested and Rs 20 lakh cash was seized from them, he said.
"Between April 1, 2016 and June 30, 2017, the state police has succeeded in arresting 1,842 accused in 938 cases of murder, 786 accused in 330 cases of loot, 4,010 accused in 2,364 cases of theft and 2,209 accused in 1,772 cases of rape," the minister said.

However, state Congress chief Baghel sought to know why the SBI branch, which was earlier located near Vidhan Sabha police chowkie, was shifted to a secluded place in Mandhar and who ordered for its relocation.
Baghel also sought to know the identity of the victims (bank locker holders) in Mandhar case.
The home minister said police have arrested two burglars in the case within 24 days of the crime and further investigation is underway.
Interrupting him, Congress members sought to know why the bank was shifted, to which the minister said that investigation into the case was progressing.
Dissatisfied over his reply, Congress members staged a walkout from the House.