Patna, July 1: A sudden spurt in the incidents of crime in the recent past has stumped top police officers of Bihar.

The state police headquarters has convened a meeting of the police chiefs from 16 districts on July 6 to review the criminal cases registered in the past one-and-a-half years.

Apart from the superintendents of police (SPs) of the 16 districts, the deputy inspectors-general (DIGs) and the inspectors-general (IGs) of the respective areas have also been asked to be present at the meeting, which will be addressed by director-general of police (DGP) Neel Mani.

The meeting would review the cases of kidnapping for ransom, robbery and dacoity in houses and banks besides incidents of road hold-ups in Patna, Muzaffarpur, Gaya, Rohtas, Bhojpur, Buxar, Kaimur, East Champaran, West Champaran, Sitamarhi, Sheohar, Munger, Lakhisarai, Jamui, Supaul and Araria districts.

The meeting will discuss at length the cases pending for disposal, the rate of chargesheet, number of cases detected and the cases selected for speedy trial during the period. It will also analyse the reason for the rise in the incidents of serious offences, including those related to property.

“Though it is a routine review meeting, we will see whether the inspectors and the deputy SPs posted in the above mentioned districts have been discharging their responsibilities in a proper manner,” Neel Mani said.

This would be the first time that incidents of offences against property are reviewed separately by the senior police officers. The incidents of offences against property have assumed alarming proportions in most of the districts during the present dispensation, sources in the state police headquarters said.

While deputy SPs or sub-divisional police officers supervise the special report cases, the progress in the investigation into non-special report cases are monitored by the circle inspectors. They are supposed to send the progress reports to their seniors on a monthly basis.

“Any laxity on the part of the officials concerned will not be tolerated. Once their responsibility is fixed, they will be liable for punishment,” the DGP said, adding that the officers, whose performance are found to be unsatisfactory, would be removed from field postings with immediate effect.

Sources said the SPs of the districts concerned were provided with a format by the police headquarters sometime back. The officers were directed to submit the filled-up forms at the police headquarters at the earliest. The IGs and the DIGs were asked to review the cases at their own level, a senior police officer said.

Statistics compiled by the state crime record bureau revealed that incidents of kidnapping for ransom have gone up in the state in the past few months. While five incidents of kidnapping for ransom were reported in January this year, the number went up to seven a month later.

Altogether 77 cases of road robberies and 17 cases of road dacoities were registered in January 2011, while in February, the state recorded 77 incidents of road robberies and 17 incidents of road dacoities.

Similarly two cases of bank robbery each were reported in January and February this year. A total of 107 cases of house robberies were reported in January. The number went up to 120 in February.

In 2010, a total 72 cases of kidnapping for ransom were lodged with different police stations of the state. The state recorded 1,051 cases of road robbery and 207 cases of road dacoities while nine cases of bank dacoities and two cases of bank robbery were lodged in 2010.