New Delhi, Aug 18 (IANS) The national capital has seen a huge rise in the number of murder and robbery cases this year as compared to the last five years, Chief Minister Sheila Dikhit said Wednesday.

In a written reply to a question in the Delhi assembly, Dikshit said there were 1,086 cases of heinous crimes, which included murders, rapes, riots and robberies, till June 30 this year, while the figure was 984 in 2009.

‘In the non-heinous category, a total of 24,533 cases were reported this year, whereas 2007 reported 26,246 such cases,’ she said. Non-heinous crimes include theft and chain-snatching.

According to Dikshit, crimes may have increased in number, but crimes per lakh people had decreased.

‘In 2008, the ratio was 286.32, which went down to 283.50 in 2009 and decreased further to 281.5. The total number of cases under Indian Penal Code (IPC) were 25,619 in 2010, while in 2009, they were 23,365,’ she said.

The chief minister said that the city had also witnessed a rise in cases of snatching with 857 cases till June 30 this year. However, there was a decrease in the number of fatal accidents with 970 cases as compared to 1,084 last year.

‘The capital also reported 30 riot cases besides 277 rape incidents, an increase of 40 from last year,’ she added.