Open manholes that led J&K Police to addict's doorstep

A drug addict allegedly stole 18 iron lids of manholes from Residency Road of Srinagar city centre and sold them for ₹900, prompting officials of the Smart City project to file a formal police complaint.

Residency Road is one of the main streets in the Srinagar business district and is being developed as part of the Smart City project.

According to the complaint, Irfan, in his 40s, was desperately looking for a way to fund his addiction as he went out on a drive from his home in Zewan area on the outskirts of Srinagar, in an auto rickshaw, on the night of July 30. When he reached near the State Bank of India on Residency Road, around 10 km from his home, he spotted the easiest things to steal - iron lids of the manholes on the sewer lines passing through the road. Seeking to avert the gaze of the CCTV cameras installed across the road, he patiently executed the job.


"He stole 18 lids from the street and drove back. He then sold them to a scrap dealer, Farooq, near his home in the Zewan area. Initially, Farooq gave him ₹1,500 but then took ₹600 back, and thus he managed to get ₹900," said a police official.

Next morning, municipal workers noticed open manholes and informed the officials concerned, following which a police complaint was filed. The police scanned the CCTV footage of the area, got the details of the auto-rickshaw and traced Irfan.

"He claimed that he was under the influence of tablets when he executed the job and that he wasn't aware of the exact sequence of events of that night. He asked us to better cross-check his versions with technical and CCTV footage," said another senior official.

Irfan told police that he had committed the theft as he was anxious to fund his addiction the next day. The police filed a case under sections 317 and 238 of BNS and the procedure to file the chargesheet is in progress. Earlier, six lids of manholes were allegedly stolen from the same street but nobody filed a complaint regarding the incident.