Major crimes in Assam have come down by more than three per cent during the 2016-17 fiscal though cases of extortion, kidnapping and fake currencies have seen a rise during this period, according to the state police.

A document prepared by Assam Police and shared with the Home Department says a total of 12,229 major crimes were reported during the last financial year compared to 12,628 cases in 2015-16, a fall of 3.16 per cent.

During 2014-15, the number of major crime-related incidents stood at 12,256.

The analysis of data shows that cases of murder have been on steady decline during the last three years with 1,427, 1,263 and 1,157 incidents reported in 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 respectively.

Same is the trend with rape cases — 1,988, 1,801 and 1,719 — during the last three financial years.

Rioting incidents declined to 1,487 cases in last fiscal year from 2,056 cases in the previous year and 2,521 incidents in 2014-15, the document pointed out.

Cases of dacoity also fell to 156 in last financial year from 170 in 2015-16 and 285 in the previous fiscal.

On the contrary, kidnapping, extortion and fake currency incidents have increased in recent times.

Kidnapping cases have increased to 6,295 from April 2016 to March 2017 across Assam as against 6,040 incidents in the previous year.

In 2014-15, a total of 4,516 kidnapping incidents were reported from different parts of the state.

Extortion cases have also went up to 1,344 from 1,248 in 2015-16 and 1,459 in 2014-15.

Cases of fake currencies have shot up by 42 per cent at 71 incidents compared to 50 in 2015-16.

However, cases of fake Indian currency notes stood at 60 in 2014-15, the document said.

In 2016-17, security agencies have recovered fake currencies worth Rs 23,42,930 compared to Rs 15,83,800 in the previous fiscal. It was Rs 35,38,600 in 2014-15.

During the period under analysis, vehicle theft cases have gone up substantially, but the recovery of the same has come down.

In 2016-17, 4,277 vehicles were stolen as against 3,971 units in the previous fiscal.

The recovery during the same period stood at just 523 units compared to 531 units respectively.

In 2014-15, 4,225 vehicles were stolen and 376 were recovered.