THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: They creep quietly on the floor, run swiftly on the walls and hop skillfully over the roofs, pelt stones at innocent people with perfect aim even in the dark and, above all, keep coming back only to get under the skin of the people and terrify them. They are a new breed of miscreants who seem to enjoy annoying the people at night, apparently for no logical reason. The residents of Samajam Lane and Post Office Lane along T R Sukumaran Nair road at Perunthanni in the city are presently under the attack of such a group of ‘faceless’ men whose menace has deprived them of their sleep for the past several nights. The fact that the men, over 50 of them, residing in the area, along with the police personnel, standing vigil at night has not deterred the freaks from coming back with increased vigour each night to engage in what seems to be their favourite pastime, has drained the will of the men who stand guard in the area. According to Shambu, a local resident, it has been over a week since the problems first started. At first, it was just a theft attempt at one of the houses here, which the local man managed to foil following a prompt alert by the occupants of the house. The police were also informed. But after a short interval, the miscreants started appearing again. At 1 am on Thursday, Shambhu was standing guard at the start of the Samajam Lane, where the miscreants often appeared, wielding an iron rod in hand. Similarly, several groups, each comprising not less than 15 men, stood at different positions, thus covering the entire neighbourhood and ready to charge on the word go. The leaders of each group stayed connected via the conference call option on their mobile phones. "Sure, they are giving us a lot of trouble. But, what impresses me is the sheer gut of the miscreants, who come back with increased vigour despite being aware that the people stay alert,’’ he told City Express. Meanwhile, the police, despite offering full support, are in conflict with the people. ‘’I think we are dealing with a case of mass hysteria, in which people imagine things to be true,’’ said Sub Inspector Suresh Babu. He was sitting inside a patrol vehicle after a tough night of combing the whole area several times. But the local people, who claim to have had several close encounters with the freaks, are not ready to buy the argument of the police and argue that they are for real. ‘’If we are imagining things, then what about the brick that hit me a night ago? The brick, which came from above the roof of my house, was certainly not a free-falling one,’’ said Hareesh, a nursing student. Another person was stabbed on his face with a blunt object while trying to nab one among the culprits. ‘’They certainly come after some planning. When it appears that we have trapped any one of them, the others distract us by pelting stones from other directions,’’ he added. The local people are also engaged in a combing drive to check out whether the freaks have dropped any valuable loot in the area, that they are so desperate to retrieve; which might probably be the reason behind their fearless show.
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