Tirupur: Frustrated by the apathy of the police to their repeated complaints, residents of Kumarasamy Nagar in the city on Tuesday locked the house of a ‘ganja peddling family’ in the area. They demanded the city police to detain the family members under the Goondas Act.The house on Main Street, belonging to Subbulakshmi and her husband Babu alias Eswaran, was shut using two locks. “The couple were selling ganja for many years. The couple’s two minor children and a married daughter were also involved in ganja peddling,” said S Ganesan, a resident.“Earlier, Subbulakshmi’s family used to sell illicit liquor at Kethampalayam (neighbouring area). When illicit liquor was banned, she and her husband started peddling ganja,” said M Sabareeswaran, a former councillor. “Their three children are school dropouts.”According to residents, the couple used to peddle drugs from Kethampalayam. “But when their neighbours raised issues, they moved to their house at Kumarasamy Nagar. We too protested against the couple’s business, but they continued doing it,” said Arumugam, another resident. “About 20 cases are pending against the couple,” he added.Besides, residents said they were disturbed by the continuous arrival of customers to the couple’s house. “At least 100 people park their vehicles on 10ft Road and come to the couple’s house to buy ganja every day. Women living in nearby houses were afraid to come out,” Arumugam said. “Once, one of the customers threatened a few residents with knife when they questioned him. It resulted in outrage,” Sabareeswaran said.After ‘sealing’ the house on Tuesday, the residents blocked road. “The family members went into hiding. We have formed three teams consisting of 30 people to keep vigil during night hours to stop ganja peddling,” Sabareeswaran said.A senior police officer said, “When we searched the couple’s house, we did not find any ganja packets. But we will proceed with the pending cases against Subbulakshmi before trial courts and stop her from selling ganja.”

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