Nuwakot, August 29:

Cops at the Samri police post in Nuwakot are keeping their peepers wide open round the clock for fear of spooks. The cops have been keeping a nonstop vigil after several of their colleagues started complaining that some unseen entity tried to throttle them.

Havaldar Tikaram Thapa said that the police post was set up in Samri bazaar after repairing a dilapidated house. Of late, the unseen entity is trying to throttle any police personnel

sleeping at night. The entity usually strikes at midnight, said Thapa.

He added that the entity’s victim struggles to get free from its grip and falls semi-unconscious for five to 10 minutes. “It always strikes at midnight. For this reason, we take turns to remain awake till past midnight,” said Thapa.

Police personnel said that three policemen and a Maoist were killed in an encounter at the post eight years ago. The post was also demolished in the clash. After the Maoists’ comprehensive peace treaty with the government, the post was again set up last December.

Personnel at the revived post certain that the spirits of the dead policemen and the slain Maoist are haunting them. There are 10 policemen posted under the command of an assistant sub-inspector here. Havaldar Thapa said that the unseen force sometimes attacks all policemen sleeping at once; sometimes it targets only two or three policemen and sometimes it keeps troubling a single individual. The attacks take place every night, he added.

Nuwakot deputy superintendent of police Dhiraj Pratap Singh said that he had received complaints from the policemen in this regard. He said that it was possible that the policemen were suffering from trauma because people had been killed in a clash at the old post there and added that a peace puja would be performed at the post to ward off evil spirits.