Federal Criminal Investigation Department (CID) director Mohd Bakri Zinin has denied the allegation by an NGO that police have manipulated the crime index to gloss over a worsening crime record.

NONE Chinese newspaper Sin Chew Daily quoted Bakri ( right ) as saying that the police force has been using the same standard as the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which was established in 1960, to index crime.

According to the standard used by the FBI, index crimes include murder, house breaking, rape, causing injury, robbery, theft and car theft while other cases are classified as non-index crimes, Bakri explained.

Kidnapping is not considered an index crime, he said, as it does not happen frequently.

Bakri was responding to questions raised by Malaysian Crime Watch Taskforce (MyWatch) chairperson R Sanjeevan on Wednesday, as to why serious crimes such as kidnapping - that carries the mandatory death penalty -  is not being categorised as an index crime.

Sanjeevan claimed the information was based on two purportedly leaked internal CID documents.

Commenting on the leaked documents, Bakri said police would launch an internal investigation to find out who leaked them.

Even so, he admitted, the documents were signed by him on Aug 8, 2012, and said they were common documents accessible by senior officers.

The purpose of the documents, Bakri added, was to remind state and district police chiefs not to overlook investigations into non-index crimes.