Strong resentment is brewing among residents of the Sunhat area after a police outpost functioning in the area was shut since last four months. The residents said that the area was communally sensitive as well as a crime prone area.
Most crimes in the town are reported from the area due to antisocial activities. Country liquor from Purnabaleswar, a hub of illicit liquor, is transported through the routes to several parts of the district as well as neighbouring districts too. Besides, contraband trading is rampant in the area.
The outpost was helping in crime control in the area to a large extent, yet after its closure, the anti-socials have become hyper active, they maintained.They demanded immediate functioning of the outpost keeping in view the strategic importance of such an outpost. A senior police officer said not only the Sunhat another two outposts have been closed and staff were withdrawn following a direction of higher-ups which said to dismantle outposts which were close to a police station.
However, the restoration of the outpost might be considered in due\ course if necessary, it added.
Meanwhile, a mobile phone looter who was apprehended by locals last evening managed to escape the crowd before police arrived. The miscreant in a spree had looted three mobiles from three different locations. First, he snatched a mobile from a woman from the District Headquarters Hospital and fled. Then he snatched another phone from Azimabad area. However, he was caught by the locals when he tried to flee after snatching a mobile phone from Fandi Square this time.
The locals after apprehending seized three phones and informed the police yet he could escape. However, he couldn’t take his bike. The Sahadevkhunta police, after seizing the bike, tried to identify the looter and ascertain whether he is part of a gang and arrest him, reports said.