Agartala: Bank employee Rajesh Das still vividly remembers the horrible scene of four heavily armed men barging into his living room while the family of three was asleep.
“They were ruthless. Soon after they entered the house, my wife and I were brutally attacked. Before we could do anything, they silenced us by brandishing sharp weapons and threatened us with dire consequences. They, however, did not harm our child who was also with us that night. They ransacked the whole house and looted all valuables, gold ornaments and cash available in the rooms that night. The scary memories still give us nightmares while we are sleeping,” Das told EastMojo.
Das and his family were among the first few victims of a masked men gang responsible for a series of robberies taking place in and around Agartala city for the last 15 days. The West Tripura district police administration has been in a state of a tizzy as the perpetrators disappear mysteriously after every strike and so far the cops are clueless about the gang.
Das’s wife said, “The intruders rummaged across the house in search of money. They asked us not to reveal anything before the police as it could invite further trouble for them. They also asked us to give all the valuable items we had even after they took away everything. One of them told me that they had prior information about the kind of cash and gold ornaments we have in our house.”
Within a gap of two days, the gang struck back again. This time the victim was Litan Ghosh, a contractor by profession based out of Baldakhal, an area located adjacent to where the first incident was reported—Aralia. Both the areas are located on the outskirts of Agartala city on the banks of the Howrah River. The robbery at Ghosh’s house also followed the same pattern.
“Four people entered the house breaking the lock and started tormenting us. Two of them pointed sharp weapons at my wife and daughter while two of them overpowered me. They leashed us with ropes and then started searching for cash all over the house. A total of Rs 70,000 cash and gold ornaments weighing 85 grams had been robbed that night. All my savings had been crushed by this incident,” rued Ghosh.
Both families have one thing to say in common. Both felt that they were receiving directions from someone or a group of people who had been waiting outside and consistently briefing them about the situation outside. “One of the gang members was moving back and forth from my living room to the main entrance of the room. I feel he was receiving updates about the outer situation. He asked me to give him Rs 6 lakh that I drew from the bank. I told him I have no such money, but the gang harped on to ask for the money. I had to showcase my bank passbooks to convince there was no such a big transaction off late in my bank,” said Ghosh.
Rajesh Das on the other hand said, “They had been working as per the instructions they have been getting from outside. Whether the group actually contains four people or more is still a mystery to us”. Soon after these two incidents, a shadow of panic and terror engulfed these two localities in specific. Citing failure from the side of the police department, locals have taken to the streets with wooden fagots, clubs and cylindrically cut bamboo pieces to guard their house and localities. These social vigilante groups keep walking all across the localities to ensure the safety of people.
“As the police failed blatantly to prove their efficiency in these cases, we have to come out of our homes to protect our families. On days we work for our livelihood and the whole night we stay awake to protect our families. What should be the job of the police is being done by us now,” Sourav Biswas, a local of the Aralia area told EastMojo.
Police, however, visited both the robbery sites and spoke to the victim’s families. They had even assured that the police patrolling in these areas will be intensified to evade any sort of untoward incident. “We know what has happened and accordingly we are working to catch the group. The investigation is underway and hopefully, things will be solved as soon as possible,” said additional superintendent of police, West Tripura, Anirban Das.
The situation in these areas turns highly volatile in the night hours and equally dangerous for unknown faces. On Friday, two persons were thrashed mercilessly by an irate group of people at Aralia because they could not give a justification as to why they were roaming in the night. The police rescued both the persons bleeding profusely and shifted them to the hospital for treatment. Now, whether they are thieves or innocent is something that only investigation can reveal, a police source said. Locals guarding their houses and property at night also have a lot of complaints with the police.
They said, “Even after three or four days the police are bare-handed. These are sensational incidents in an area which is located just a stone’s throw away from the main city. People can’t feel safe here, how can the law and order system be believed?”. “We don’t love to stay awake all night. It is because we can’t stay at our homes when our whole life’s income is at stake,” another person in the community watchmen group said. Not only this, Agartala city has recently reported a steep rise in theft cases. Several senior police officials whom EastMojo tried to contact to comment behind the reason have almost familiar answers. “This is because of the rising drug abuse. After a certain period of time, families stop giving money for drugs which leads the addicts to do petty crimes for money for their urge for drugs,” a senior police official said.
Meanwhile, close on the heels of such incidents in the city areas, a group of armed men clothed in army fatigue served extortion notices to one Piyush Debbarma at Dui Ghariya area under Sankhola ADC village of Mohanpur subdivision. The incident took place on August 24 night when, the police said, the armed men also opened fire to threaten the family. SDPO Mohanpur Kamal Bikash Majumder ruled out the possibility of involvement of militant groups because it would be suicidal for the insurgents to travel six seven kilometres inside the borders for just serving extortion notice.
“We have recovered the bullet and are waiting for the ballistic report to understand what kind of guns were used. We are also closely monitoring the area. Apart from the family of Piyush Debbarma, none of the inhabitants of the area did spot any unusual thing so far”, said Majumder. A top police source said, “The recent incidents are indicating the involvement of professionals in the crimes and that should be dealt with strong hands. All these recent incidents are being investigated with the best of the officers we have and we have to give them some time. Our intelligence wing is also after them and hopefully, this mystery thriller will end on a positive note very soon.”
Also Read | Tripura: Nadda arrives on 2-day visit; public rally scheduled on Monday