‘Ghost’ scares away inmates of Madhya Pradesh hostel besieged by encroachers
Sagar district education officer says the ghostly act could be the handiwork of encroachers.
Green chilies, lemons, neem leaves hang from doors and windows of its deserted rooms as authorities of a government girls hostel in Madhya Pradesh try to exorcise a “ghost” that has frightened away all its inmates.
It was 4am on Tuesday when a student of Class 10, identified as Roshni, heard some “unnatural sounds” outside the windows of her room, according to some terrified students.
Soon her three other roommates too claimed to have heard the similar otherworldly sounds, triggering panic among the boarders.
When the panic-stricken girls narrated the incidents to their parents, they decided to take them home. By Wednesday, the hostel at Bhangarh village in Sagar district was vacated.
The girls’ hostel run by the state’s education department has 102 students of class 9 to 12 from nearby villages. All the girls are student of Bhangarh Government H S School, situated some 80km from Sagar.
Faced with the exodus of students, the hostel authorities, instead of counselling the terrified girls and trying to find out the source of the sounds, allegedly called a local exorcist (tantric) to ward off the evil spirits.
Hostel’s warden Filistha Minj, however, denied taking exorcist’s help to cast out the ghost. She claimed to have no information about chilies and lemons being placed on the doors and windows.
“Parents are being called and we will persuade and advice them to bring back the girls. I am not aware of any such tantric rituals being done in the hostel,” she said.
But photos and eyewitnesses tell a different story.
Meanwhile, Sagar district education officer Santosh Sharma sees an evil design behind the incident and dispatched an inquiry team to the village to investigate the matter.
“It’s unfortunate and it looks like someone has done it intentionally to malign the education department. At the rear end of the hostel there are some encroachers, who face eviction. It could be their handiwork,” he said.