Traffic movement came to standstill on the Kalimati Road in Sakchi for more than two hours on Monday morning as a section of shopkeepers imposed blockade after a fellow vendor committed suicide in the wee hours of Monday.
The deceased identified as Kanhaiya Prasad Shah (45) was one of those vendors whose unauthorised makeshift shops were near the ‘Howrah Bridge’ was removed by the Sakchi police on Sunday.
Hit by the incident about 20 shopkeepers imposed the blockade at about 10.30 am, protesting the alleged attitude of Sakchi police which used to evict the make-shift shops near the Howrah Bridge. They were also demanding compensation to the bereaved family.
One of the protesters said on Sunday night a police team from Sakchi police station had evicted assaulted some of the shopkeepers, along with Kanhaiya. Kanhaiya must have committed suicide due to action by the police on the shop-keepers.
The deceased’s wife Rajkumari Devi(40) said that the police had last night removed her husband’s snacks-shop forcibly and during the act of removing the shop, the police had also assaulted him.
A mother of three children said ever since the shop was razed in an anti-encroachment drive by the local administration, her husband had gone into depression.
“We are in state of shock and never knew that fate had such thing instore for us. Despite suffering from depression, he would try to install his shop near Howrah Bridge, but last night the police came there once again and thrashed him before removing the make-shift shop. In the morning, he was hanging from the ceiling fan,” said the woman.
In this connection, the police have taken a statement from Rajkumari Devi while registering a Unnatural Death case and sending the body to the MGM Medical College mortuary.
The blockade was lifted at about 12.40 pm after deputy superintendent of police (city) Animesh Nathani reach at the spot and assured the protestors that they would probe if the police had thrashed the shop-keepers last night. Nathani said the unauthorised shops are not allowed to do business along Kalimati Road
The kind of shops which faced the eviction axe included vegetable shops, fruit shops, tea stalls, snacks corner, hair-cutting salon and furniture shops. According to district officials, they would ensure that the market place is cleared of any type of encroachments including the manner in which the shopkeepers had extended their shops.
An official said the vendors and kiosks were seized from the places from where the administration had received complaints that anti-social elements used to consume liquor sitting there and also indulge in eve-teasing. “We cannot comprise with the safety of market place. Moreover , people also find it inconvenience to move into the market freely with the passages getting choked due to the make-shift shops,” said he said