Anti-socials having a safe haven at Katari Bagh

KOCHI: Guess what is the newest haven of anti-social elements in the city? It is within the fortified walls of the Naval Base. In the time span of past one year, the police have traced a number of anti-social elements, including drug peddlers within the servants quarters of  Katari Bagh Naval Base.Most of these anti-social elements use their close relatives, including wives or mothers to get a house at the servants  quarters.Since this is an area controlled by the Navy, police patrolling is sparse there. Many of the officers and their families on a transferable job, too are often ignorant about the whereabouts of their servants.All this makes the servants quarters a perfect haven for anti-social elements.Before he was arrested a couple of months ago, the infamous drug peddler Sanu, of the ‘Sanu-Vinu’ gang of Vathuruthy was found using the servants quarter.Sanu’s wife was working as a servant at  Katari Bagh. The arrest of Bombay Joshi was yet another case. The accused has been involved in illegal liquor transaction from the servants quarters.When contacted, the  Navy officials expressed their concern over the issue. In a written statement to the Express they said: “The  Navy is also concerned about instances of having identified anti-social elements within the Naval residential area. The Naval Provost organisation is actively working with the police and other agencies on a continuous basis to monitor and undertake surveillance to prevent such incidents.”The Navy admits servants on the basis of a police verification certificate. But the officials of the Harbour police under which Katari Bagh area comes are of the opinion that this might just not work. “The problem here is that these certificates are often obtained from far away police stations where they might have a clean record.“Recently a woman from Narakkal was arrested in a case.  “Her certificate was from Narakkal, that too obtained years back. Once it is obtained, these people renew it,” the police said.But the officials of the police and the Navy said that after the cases were reported they had been more vigilant and that they had been actively cooporating with each other to wipe out the problem. Once the incidents are confirmed the accused are permanently blacklisted. The officials of the Navy denied the possibility of such anti-social elements gaining access to the defence offices or installations.The passes are issued only after thorough verification to servants and their families. “Even these passes are access-controlled which give them clearance to visit only the residential areas and not offices or other installations,” the statement from the Navy said.