New Delhi,  In the past two years, only 9 per cent of the murders in the national capital were the result of criminal motive while rest of them were an outcome of sudden provocation, personal enmity and other reasons, a Delhi Police official said on Monday.

According to the official, the city, consecutively over the last two years, has seen a decline in murders by 12 per cent.

"As far as other incidents of grievous injuries are concerned, strict penal action is taken," the official said. For such crimes, the police have made 74 per cent more arrests.

As per the latest crime data, Delhi has the best conviction rate of IPC crimes (85 per cent) compared to all-India average of 59 per cent. In rape cases, Delhi's conviction rate is 21 per cent better than all-India average, the official said. In such cases, charge sheets have been filed against 96 per cent accused offenders.

The data was shared by the Delhi Police in response to the allegations levelled by the Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson Atishi. The AAP leader had alleged that the public is not safe because the police are busy giving protection to the goons of BJP.

However, according to the data shared by the police, there has been a significant decrease in use of firearms in the past two years. "A decline of 19 per cent was reported," said the official.

"If we compare to the pre-Covid times, there has been a massive 219 per cent increase in preventive arrests of criminal elements. These arrests of criminal elements have resulted in a sharp reduction in instances of street crimes, thus making the city safer for the citizens," the official noted.

With the analysis of the data, it was found that there has been a drop of almost 60 per cent in PCR calls of snatching in 2022 compared to the same period of 2021. "The drop of 60 per cent in calls is a result of multipronged efforts, including prompt registration of cases followed by relentless efforts to identify and arrest the criminals involved. This is reflected from the fact that though 60 per cent less PCR Calls were reported, the number of snatchers arrested in 2022 is significantly more compared to the same period of 2021," the official said.