Organ theft scare grips Manesar

Sanjeev K Ahuja.

Production as well as attendance at many industrial units in Industrial Model Township (IMT) Manesar has drastically come down these days.

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A rumour doing the rounds that a mobile gang is abducting and extracting people's kidneys has spooked workers on graveyard shifts at these units.

These workers are among those who do not avail of company transport facility to go home after their shifts end.

Though the local police have rubbished it as mere rumour, they continue to get calls from worried industrialists about the situation.

Narender Sangwan, the SHO of Manesar police station, said unidentified miscreants were spreading rumours to create panic in the area for the reasons still not known.

He said, “We have not come across even a single incident of dumping of body after extraction of kidneys.” The police have begun investigating how this rumour began.

Mahinder Singh (name changed on request), who processes data at an automobile company, said, “We are very scared after hearing stories about a gang who operate late in the night.”

“I leave the factory in a group now after my shift at 1:30 a.m. for my nearby village.”

The IMT Manesar Association has issued an advisory to member units appealing them to convince their workers not to pay heed to such rumours.

N.S. Grewal, the director of India’s major garments export house Orient Crafts, confirmed that attendance in their Manesar plant has dipped by 15 per cent, affecting

production.

He said, “Last Saturday, some criminals attacked one of our workers around 9.30 p.m. He was stabbed but luckily he managed to escape from the spot.”

Ameena Sherwani of Manesar Industrial Welfare Association (MIWA) also confirmed that a number of worried industrialists had been calling the association.

She said, “We are going to demand deployment of Central Industrial Security force (CISF) force in place of private security guards and fencing of IMT, which is spread across 1,500 acres.”

However, some of the major companies such as Honda Motors & Scooters India (HMSI) and Maruti Suzuki have denied any affect on their production or attendance in the late night shift.

“We have our own well

laid transportation system for our employees for picking and dropping them,” a HMSI official said.