As many as 8,884 criminal cases were registered in the 20 police stations in the district in the past eight months, according to District Crime Records Bureau (DCRB) statistics.
There were 16 cases of murder, 90 cases of housebreaking, and 265 unnatural deaths. DCRB sources put the number of suicides at 183 and man missing cases at 151.
In 2010, there were 17 cases of murder and 18 cases of housebreaking.
None of the murder cases in the district were out of political rivalry, DCRB sources said.
The murder of a 41-year-old woman, in front of her mother and six-year-old son, at Vazhamuttom, near Pathanamthitta, on Monday was the latest murder case to be registered in the district.
The Achenkoil area and the hill tracts of Konni had been witnessing a spate of crimes, sources said. Sighting of unidentified bodies in the Achenkovil river had been reported on many occasions. As many as 183 unidentified bodies had been sighted in the past eight months in the district.
The district has been witnessing many cases of attacks on women. A man was stabbed to death when he reportedly tried to prevent a youth from attacking his daughter on MC Road, near Thiruvalla, five months ago. A nurse was assaulted by an auto driver while she was returning from workplace in Thiruvalla three months ago.
Crimes related to smuggling of sand, illegal land conversion, and illicit liquor trade had also seen a steady increase in the past eight months, sources said.
Raju Abraham, Ranni MLA, told The Hindu that the high rate of crime was reflective of the poor law and order situation in the district.
The direct intervention of ruling party leaders in the functioning of the law and order machinery had badly affected the morale of the police, he said.
