Night of terror: Slum-dwellers run amok in Tangra high-rise
Times of India | 19 September 2025The residents of Ekta Floral, located at 27 Christopher Road, said it all began around 3 am Wednesday, when the decorative lights set up by condo residents for Durga Puja were forcefully set up as floodlights by the local Daspara slum youths so that they could play night football to mark Vishwakarma Puja. They did so after threatening security guards, claimed residents of the condo.
However, when the tournament continued till 3 am, condo residents finally protested.
"The cacophony was such that the kids and elderly residents could not sleep at night. They forced our security staff to shut the main entry of our complex so that they could play. Moreover, they had placed a vat near the fire brigade entry gate. We sent feelers repeatedly through the security guards to stop the game," said Mumtaz Ali, a resident of the condo and a member of the ad-hoc committee managing daily affairs at the complex.
What followed was not what the condo residents had imagined. "The CCTVs caught dozens of men from the adjoining slum storming the condo, taking lifts to reach upstairs and then pressing the doorbells recklessly, knocking and kicking on flat doors, speaking obscene language and issuing threats. They left after 20 minutes," said Ali.
Another resident said they woke up as the kids began to cry. "This has been a recurring incident, though not so brazen till now.
We have 16 utility staff members and all domestic helps coming from this slum. But they keep threatening us and use our property as their own," she claimed.
On Wednesday evening, the residents held a meeting and decided to inform cops. "But, when nothing happened from the cops' end, we decided to lodge a protest by forming a human chain on Christopher Road. When we stood on the road in silence, the slum dwellers launched an attack on residents, injuring two of us.
They are now putting pressure through different avenues not to lodge a fresh complaint," claimed Ali.
The slum dwellers claimed that they were not involved in any physical harm. "A day-night tournament was in progress. When the finals were being played, the residents of the condo began disrupting the match by throwing items from their flats. We wanted to lodge a protest, but the guards misbehaved. We tried to meet the flat owners.
We were not involved in any incident on Wednesday," said Ramzan Ali, a local resident.
DC (eastern suburban) Gaurav Lal said they were probing the matter after lodging a case of trespassing. "The local Tangra police intervened, and the matter is being looked into. We are looking into CCTV footage to identify the trespassers. But, so far, we have not found any outsider kicking or banging the doors of the flats. We urge everyone to provide us with evidence," said Lal.
