Corruption cases decline 1.7%, cybercrimes rise 31%: NCRB

NEW DELHI: While corruption cases declined 1.7% in 2023 compared to the previous year, economic offences rose 6% and cybercrimes 31% in the same period, as per the NCRB report .

In 2023, 4,069 cases were registered by state anti-corruption bureaus (ACBs) against 4,139 in 2022 under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Of these, 71% (2,875) were “trap” incidents, where suspects were caught taking bribes, followed by 560 cases of criminal misconduct (14%).

State police arrested 4,759 people in such cases, with chargesheets leading to 976 convictions. Departmental action was taken against 638 others. Maharashtra reported the highest number with 812 cases, followed by Karnataka (362), Rajasthan (316) and TN (302). Gujarat, Haryana, Kerala, MP, Odisha and Punjab each recorded between 200 & 287 cases.

Over two lakh economic offence cases were registered in 2023, up 6% from 1.9 lakh in 2022. These included 1.8 lakh forgery, cheating & fraud cases, 22,759 criminal breach of trust cases and 661 counterfeiting cases.

Cybercrime cases rose sharply, with 86,420 registered in 2023, against 65,893 in 2022. “Crime rate (per lakh population) increased from 4.8 in 2022 to 6.2 in 2023,” NCRB said. Of these, 69% were fraud, followed by sexual exploitation 4.9%.