By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Oct 2: A raid to arrest two thieves in the city’s Jhalupara locality led the police to over 200 people, many allegedly involved in unlawful activities, living in cramped rooms of the building under surveillance.
Police arrested the two persons for their involvement in theft cases in Oxford Colony. They were identified through CCTV footage after they looted gold and cash from the locality, police said. The stolen items and the cash were recovered during the raid.
Residents of the area living adjacent to the building said the police have often raided the particular building, picking up someone or the other. Neighbours have built walls around the building in question because of the “reputation” of its occupants, locals said.
The neighbours said the three-storeyed building in Jhalupara is owned by one Akil Ahmed, who has rented it out to hawkers, all of them from outside the state. About 250-300 people, whose antecedents are hardly known, are currently living there.
“Some 60-70 rooms of the building are filled with hawkers. At least 200 people are staying on these floors and they have been arrested many times. Sometimes, the police come after they run away and sometimes, they are arrested in the morning and released in the evening,” one of the neighbours said.
Another neighbour said walking by the building after 6 pm can be tricky as some boys invariably sit on the steps and take drugs.
He said complaints made to the police and the building’s owner fall on deaf ears except when “token arrests” are made.
Jhalupara Village Council president, Mohan Limbu said the building’s owner, who stays in Garikhana, was summoned by the local police and has been given a week’s time to vacate the building.
“The owner was apprised of the earlier complaints but he did not pay any heed,” he said.