India News | .Purnea CES20 BH-SECURITY-CEMETRIES Security Personnel Deployed at Christian Cemeteries in Purnea

Purnea (Bihar), April 22 (PTI) Security personnel have been deployed at Christian cemeteries in Bihar's Purnea district, where a number of British colonial officers were buried in the pre-Independence era, to prevent vandals and thieves from damaging the headstones of their tombs, a senior police official said on Friday.

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The security personnel will keep a watch on any suspicious activities around the cemeteries as some graves in Purnea were dug up by drug addicts and drunkards looking for possible gold and silver jewellery, memorials and other valuable items.

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Purnea superintendent of police Daya Shankar told reporters, “We are monitoring the situation and at some cemeteries security personnel have been asked to keep a close watch on those persons who are involved in such activities like digging up graves and damaging headstones. We have come to know that some graves at Christian cemeteries have been dug up by miscreants, including drug addicts, looking for possible gold and silver jewellery as many weathy Britishers were buried here”.

He said instructions have been given to station house officers of those areas where graves in the district were dug up and at some places security personnel have been deployed.

"The police has so far not received any complaint so far in this regard. If we receive any formal complaint in this regard, action will be initiated against the accused,” the SP said.

Local residents say that land mafia are also eyeing the cemetery located near the Sashastra Seema Bal headquarters here.

More than 200 British people who were posted in Purnea in different capacities died there between 1770 and 1947. The officers of the British colonial power began settling in Purnea after it became a full fledged district on February 14, 1770 and Gerrad Gustavus Ducarel became its first collector.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)