Police starts investigating robbery of soft drinks from Silchar DSA; "Victim of situation," says man whose photo with bottles went viral

If you are from Barak Valley and use Facebook, you can’t help but see images of a few men delightfully walking out with soft drinks. These images from Satindra Mohan Dev Stadium have been shared thousands of times.

Arnab Kar, a businessman from Silchar has claimed that the soft drinks that are seen in those images, were “stolen” from his stall. According to his status on Facebook, he had set up stalls inside the ground to sell items during the Prag Cine Awards. “More then (than) 800 bottles of cold drink and 700 of mineral water bottles which costs approx Rs 50,000 thousand. And also the 5 deep freezers were broken and damaged. (Repairing cost 75000 thousand). I am of the view that this incident took place today 27.3.22 in the morning from DSA premises after Prag News cine award night. After taking the necessary permission from Prag News and Silchar DSA we put up our stall. I request the authority to take necessary and strict action,” he wrote.

He has lodged a complaint at the Silchar Sadar Police Station. Speaking with Barak Bulletin, the investigating officer said that they have received the complaint and will investigate the matter accordingly.

Kar has shared a video too with his post, where the person filming is heard saying in the background, “The owner himself is distributing the items.” However, Arnab Kar denied any such initiative taken by him. “I was under the impression that Silchar DSA is a safe and secured premise and so, we left the items on the ground at night. In the morning, when we went there, we found our stock was stolen,” said Kar.

On the night of the event, after it started pouring, Arnab Kar and his staff left the ground with the freezers and stock unattended. One of the men whose image went viral countered the allegations. He said, “The unattended belongings were distributed randomly. We go to the DSA every day for a morning walk. When we see packets lying inside the stadium, we clean them. On that day, when we went there for a routine morning walk, we saw abandoned items being distributed and some of us, despite being not interested at all, picked up a few bottles and distributed it further. I do not consume edibles with sugar and so, there is no question of me stealing soft drinks. Yes, I saw my photographs on social media, all I can say is that I am a victim of the situation.”

When asked if the items were left unattended on the ground, Arnab Kar said, “Yes, when it rained in the night, the ground was all muddy. It was not possible for us to transport the soft drinks and mineral water bottles out. In fact, cashew nuts, dressed chicken were also kept inside the freezer which got stolen. I have seen that a few men and a woman distributed those items out of the ground through the fence. I want them to be arrested.”