Visakhapatnam Crime Down 11.78% in 2025, Accident Deaths Remain High
Visakhapatnam improved its law-and-order record in 2025, with overall crime dropping by 11.78 percent from the previous year. Still, road accident deaths remained a concern despite a slight fall in the number of accidents.
Police Commissioner Shankhabrata Bagchi presented the city’s annual crime report at a media conference on Tuesday. He said most major crime categories showed a decline. However, murders increased to 35 in 2025 from 24 in 2024. Illicit relationships led to nine murder cases, while petty quarrels caused five.
The city recorded fewer serious crimes during the year. Attempt-to-murder cases fell from 159 to 116. Rape cases dropped sharply from 126 to 63. Cases of harassment against women also declined, from 643 to 499.
Property crimes showed a clear downward trend. House break-ins reduced from 315 cases in 2024 to 183 in 2025. Robbery cases also came down, from 43 to 30.
The police stepped up recovery efforts during the year. They recovered stolen property worth over ₹10.59 crore. The items included 8.6 kg of gold, 16.1 kg of silver, ₹66 lakh in cash, 186 motorcycles and other valuables. The police returned these to 4,979 rightful owners.
Road safety figures presented a mixed picture. The city reported 1,086 road accidents in 2025, down from 1,132 in 2024. Injuries declined from 1,156 to 1,038. However, fatalities rose slightly from 347 to 349.
NH-16 remained the most accident-prone stretch, with 420 accidents and 149 deaths. Internal roads recorded 410 accidents, claiming 106 lives. BRTS road stretches reported 34 deaths, while Port Road saw 16 fatalities. The Beach Road stretch recorded 52 accidents, resulting in 11 deaths.
NDPS cases also declined during the year. The city recorded 226 cases in 2025, down from 313 in 2024. The police destroyed 10,147.590 kg of seized ganja, 19.310 litres of hashish oil and one kg of opium. The contraband was valued at around ₹5.29 crore.
Cybercrime cases continued to fall. The number dropped from 409 in 2023 and 376 in 2024 to 286 in 2025. At the same time, police action improved. Arrests rose from 160 to 205. The police refunded ₹14.64 crore to 1,020 cybercrime victims, the highest recovery in a single year by any district in the State. Mr. Bagchi added that the police also refunded ₹56 lakh to 126 victims of online loan app fraud in 2025.