By Vijay Zala, Zahid Qureshi and Ruturaj Jadav
Burglars? No. Murderers? No. Terrorists? Uh-uh. The cops posted at the Ramol police station claim they have routed something that is untrammelled by laws and far more fearsome: A ghost! Unbelievable, though, it may sound, the Ramol police claim they were ‘terrorised’ by a ghost for more than a month last year.
The Ramol police claim the ghost — believed to be a woman poltergeist — used to overturn furniture and shove cops working in the night shift at the police station. They say that the ghost, which was “contained by a tantrik” a few days before Diwali last year, used to specifically target cops sitting on chairs and tables.
The Ramol police station, which is referred to by villagers as bhoot thana, was set up on a rented premises on October 5, 2007. “This building was earlier a rice mill,” a constable, who didn’t want to be named, said. “Villagers say a girl had died while working in the mill several years ago, and her spirit roamed on the premises. They warned us against starting a police station here, but we told them that ghosts won’t trouble us because we are serving the people.”
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‘Ghost trouble’ at the police station has ended, but cops continue to be a bit leery of the premises. (Right) A tantrik, the Ramol police say, performed rituals, and hung a red cloth pouch inside the police station “to get rid of the ghost”
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According to a constable at the police station, more than 10 cops were “troubled by the ghost”. “It used to push police officials off tables and chairs,” the constable, Batuksinh Darbar, said. “Some police officials even complained of chest pain in middle of the night. They felt as if someone had jumped on their chests. Then there were others who felt someone was strangling them.”
Darbar said that eventually everyone at the Ramol police station started working near the entrance at night. “Almost all the cops working in the night shift noticed strange activity inside the police station. We were all so scared that we decided to park ourselves near the police station’s entrance after sundown,” he said.
A team from AM visited Ramol on Wednesday night, and found that the police station was located in a ghostly area. It is in middle of an empty plot, surrounded by crop fields. A few villagers told the AM team they used to hear sounds of machines even when there were no workers inside the mill.
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The Ramol police station — which was set up on a rented premises on October 5, 2007 — is referred to by villagers as bhoot thana
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A Ramol police official said that a tantrik helped them get rid of the ghost last year. “A man identified by locals as Ishwar Sadhu brought a tantrik to the police station. The tantrik performed some rituals, and hung picture of Meldi Mata on a wall. He also hung a red cloth pouch, which is believed to have the girl’s spirit,” the official said. “We have not noticed any suspicious activity since then.”
The official also said that the first thing that some cops do after entering the police station was to offer prayers to Meldi Mata. ASI Rajendra Chauhan, meanwhile, said that the police station was functioning normally. “We are not facing any problems,” he said. Another official said that though the police station functioned normally at night, some cops were still a bit leery of the premises.
‘Ghost sighting’ led to Kaligam outpost’s closure?
A police outpost in Kaligam near Ranip was closed about four years back after a constable apparently spotted a ghost. Sources in the Sabarmati police station, which managed the outpost, say the constable — Joravsinh — left the outpost claiming that he was slapped by a ghost. They say eventually all officials of the outpost stopped working there.
A senior official at the Sabarmati police station said that outpost was closed following reports of “suspicious activity”. “The incident, involving a constable, occurred before I joined the Sabarmati police station, so I cannot comment much on it,” the official said. |
