RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, March 25: The murder of an elderly woman in her home in Ashok Nagar by the construction workers known to her for the last 20 years has created an atmosphere of mistrust among those who hire labourers in the houses for whitewashing, painting and other similar works.
A section of people in the Jharkhand capital shared their views expressing their concern over the situation.
“My God! ……they cannot be trusted. We will be careful in future,” reacted a senior resident of the city who often hires workers for civil work and most of the time lets them work without any supervision.
Director of Dharmesh Private Limited, Prabhakar, who often hires workers for his work at different sites across the country, echoed the same.
“This is very serious. A worker turning criminal for easy money is a matter of concern. It will deprive many workers of jobs and create a situation of unemployment in the state which is already under criticism for its failure in creating job opportunities,” he said.
The director suggested preferring registered workers for jobs. “One should call registered labourers. Ranchi Municipal Corporation has registered workers for various jobs and one can take help from the civic body.”
A city resident said: “Many times contractors appoint Rohingya and workers from Bangladesh as they are available at a lower cost. They have no proper place for stay and intruders prefer staying at the worksite and working round the clock according to the convenience of contractors.”
Officer-in-charge of Argora police station Vinod Kumar admitted the situation of mistrust saying the incident gives a call to employers to become more alert while giving entry to unverified labourers at their homes.
“It is always advisable to collect all necessary information about those coming to your house for any work. Taking their photographs and proper verifications of their information with the help of reliable sources is always advisable,” Kumar said.
Officer-in-charge of Dhurwa police station, Praveen Kumar, echoed the same.
“Though difficult, one should always try to take photographs of the labourers working in their house. Apart from this, arrangements for CCTV surveillance should also be done. Though the criminals are smart enough to commit crime even under electronic surveillance, the gadget is quite helpful,” Kumar said.
On March 17, Malambika Sinha (70), wife of a retired bank officer Vijay Sinha, was stabbed to death. The criminal had refreshment before they committed the murder finding her alone in her house in the afternoon.
City police cracked the murder case on March 24.
Three persons were arrested in this connection. The list of arrested accused includes Mohammed Aurangzeb Ansari (19), Mohammed Nafar alias Zafar alias Chotu (20) and Naushad Ansari (40). All are residents of Karkari Tangra Toli under Narkopi police station area. Naushad was associated with the victim for the last 20 years and used to take all types of civil assignments of the house including painting and construction work. Two others were his close relatives and helping hands
