Is Bengaluru the new criminal hub for foreign nationals?

Bengaluru city police have booked more than 500 foreign nationals in the last three years in 330 criminal cases. These numbers are suggestive of the fact that Bengaluru, which is more popular for being the Silicon Valley of India, is slowly turning into a criminal hub for the foreign nationals and that is definitely not a nice picture.

Drug Peddling, prostitution, cyber crimes, theft, assaults and many more of such crimes have been committed in the past three years by these foreign nationals who have been booked. And the ones , who are on the run, are still committing these crimes. Unfortunately, the crime rate is also on the rise in recent times.   

“The study revealed that 60 per cent of the accused are out on bail while 30 per cent are in judicial custody. Five per cent of accused are absconding and cases related to the remaining 5 per cent of foreign nationals were dropped as there was no substantial evidence,” a police official was quoted as saying by the New Indian Express.

Several questions have been raised by the residents of Bengaluru regarding the rise in crime rate. The Police have taken steps to curb this rate and have been monitoring several crime-affected areas in the city.  

“These cases exclude those registered under provisions of Foreigners Act and Passport Act. Overstaying of foreign nationals in city has also been a major concern for the city police,” a police official added.

“According to reports, 1,087 of the 23,516 foreign nationals who were staying in Bengaluru by the end of 2015, were overstaying. Some of them left the country and some renewed their visas. Now, the city police, with the help of Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO), have identified 632 overstaying foreign nationals and are planning to deport them.”

• Bengaluru
• Crime rate
• Foreign criminals