After cops fail to act on complaints, Kalyan residents unite on WhatsApp to tackle menace-making group who'd get high in their garden every night and then bang on their doors
Social worker Manoj Mali (in white shirt) with the group who nabbed the druggies on Sunday
When the police failed to take action, a group of mighty women from Kalyan took on some very high druggies to drive them out of their neighbourhood on Sunday. They managed to nab eight druggies from a group of 20-25, who had also got some youngsters in the area addicted to drugs.
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For the past month, the nuisance-creating druggies were giving sleepless nights to the women, who reside in the Khade Golivali area in Kalyan. According to the residents, they had to stay awake till 5 am to tackle the group of 20 to 25 nuisance-creating druggies.
Inattentive cops
Manoj Mali, a social worker, said, "Almost 7,000 residents that live in our area were having sleepless nights. We would always stay up and call out to each other when the druggies would pelt stones at our homes. A few of my friends and I would also patrol at night, but once we went into our homes, the druggies would start their work. They used the garden area in the afternoon and night and trouble us residents every time."
Resident Priyanka Vengurlekar, said, "The druggies used to come to our window, light a torch and keep banging the window. When we went to police station and narrated the incident, cops just came once to patrol the area."
Sughandha Mane, another resident said, "Senior PI Gavit came to our area and told us 'Don't be scared of them. You can catch them together easily and hand them to us. Don't beat them or else we will file complaint against you.' We're not satisfied with the police's activities. We've lost our sleep because cops are not paying attention to our complaint, and seeing our children undergo this trauma.
United on WhatsApp
The residents decided to tackle this bunch by first coming together on social media. Alka Bhosale, 50, said, "We made a WhatsApp group and shared all our numbers with each other. The druggies would come to our chawl and bang on the door. Sometimes, they'd knock and say 'there's a robbery in your neighbourhood, please open the door.' But because we know each other so well, we'd immediately call each other and open the door together. When the druggies saw that, they'd immediately flee." The group would also leave on seeing Mali and his group of patrollers approaching.
So, Mali decided to guide all of the women in the area to keep an eye on their activities. And then they made a plan to crackdown on the druggies on Sunday.
Sticks for the stoned
Bhosale said, "We told Manoj dada that we want to stop this nuisance and keep our area safe for our children. We want to help our men get rid of the druggies. On Sunday, they broke some beer bottles in front of someone's house. We all called each other and waited to hear the sound of sound of their bike. One of our residents saw them heading to the garden from her window. We immediately informed each other and Mali dada. Then all of us women took sticks and went towards the garden. Mali and his team were hiding near it."
Seeing the women heading towards them, the druggies came out. But before they knew it, a mob of 200 had descended upon them. The women formed a circle around the eight druggies and some men tried to catch the others who'd fled from the spot. The residents then checked the white powder the druggies had; it turned out to be MD. Kolshewadi senior PI, Kavi Gavit told mid-day, "Our officers patrol the area for 24 hours. We've arrested the accused. Soon, we'll arrest all others."
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