Raipur: The quarantined inmates at a high school building which was turned into quarantine centre were shifted as they claimed that they had seen ghosts, and heard sounds of ghungroo (anklet) or at times even eerie screams.
The local administration and the gram panchayat was alerted when they heard complaints of the group inmates in Kasdol block, about 120 km from Raipur, that they were having sleepless nights and insisted that they were haunted by these specters.
The New Indian Express reported that the administration officials were unconvinced, the sarpanch intervened and shifted all of them to a nearby building.
“Around 60 people were reportedly living in the centre. They said they heard howling noises and some even felt they saw terrifying illusory shadows,” said MD Patel the public relations officer.
“The gullible people get carried away with such unfounded beliefs. There is no existence of ghost or paranormal things,” said rationalist Dr Dinesh Mishra, a recipient of the national award for promoting scientific temper.
“Most of the inmates are migrant workers and have been staying here for the past few weeks. A couple of days ago, they shared their concerns with the sarpanch who shifted them without our knowledge. I along with the tehsildar visited the building on Monday, intentionally around midnight hours, to inspect the ground situation. We tried in vain to alleviate the misconceived fear among the inmates. It’s nothing more than their superstitious beliefs,” said Tekchand Agrawal, Kasdol deputy collector.
