Mohammed Shami afraid of leaving family alone, wary of attack

Indian pace spearhead Mohammed Shami has returned to his household after running rings around the Sri Lankan batting line-up in the island nation. However, the pacer from West Bengal is afraid of leaving his family alone in his house at Poddarnagar, because of the constant threats and abuses he has been receiving from certain local residents. He is feeling insecure in his house.

Shami had a feud with local barber Shiva Pramanik last month when he was taking some time to park his BMW XI car in the parking lot of his Prince Golam Mohammad Shah Road flat. Pramanik came running and asked the reason for taking so much time to park the car. This led to a heated verbal exchange between the two and Pramanik ran to call the salon owners Swarup Sarkar and Jayanta Sarkar.

The Sarkars, accompanied by Pramanik, went to Shami’s apartment and started banging on the door. Following a complaint from the pacer, police arrested the accused but they were later released on bail. From then onwards, Shami is afraid to leave his family back home while he is doing the job for his country overseas. “I really feel unsafe for me and my family to stay here any longer. I cannot let them stay here when I am away on tour,” said the pacer while speaking to the Times of India.

“We have always felt insecure staying here. My wife doesn’t even want to stay in this flat. But I am not a coward. Why will I run away? What has saddened me is the fact that no one from the area or even from the administration has approached me to know if we are comfortable after the incident. How can I forgive someone who threatened my wife and me and made my daughter cry? I am not going to forgive them. I was really hurt and shocked at the incident,” the 26-year old speedster added.

He further complained that no one from his locality or from the local authorities have come forward to show some support. “If this can happen to an international cricketer like me, how safe can this place be for the common man. Cops did their job but then on, no one from the locality or the local administration approached me to comfort me or my family. I really feel unsafe for me and my family to stay here any longer. I cannot let them stay here when I am away on tour,” said the cricketer, who is very worried about the safety of his family.

“Such things happen in the neighbourhood”

Dilip Das, who frequents the Sarkars’ salon, said that they have forgotten about Shami’s incident since these kinds of incidents aren’t rare in the neighbourhood. “Such things happen in a neighbourhood. These are small incidents which we have to let go of,” said Das.