The old, abandoned building beside Nimtala Ghat Street in North Kolkata, once home to the Jorabagan Police Station, carries with it a mysterious history. Once a grand mansion, later a college, and finally converted into a police station, this house has long been surrounded by eerie tales and legends.
The massive structure originally belonged to Babu
Mathuramohan Sen. In the early days of British rule, it was one of the grandest
and most magnificent mansions in North Kolkata.
Later, the house was transformed into an educational
institution. The famous Scottish missionary Alexander Duff relocated his Free
Church Institution to this building, which then came to be known as Duff
College. It served as an important center of learning from 1844 to 1857. In
1929, the college merged with Scottish Church College.
After that, the Duff College building was eventually sold,
and during the 1920s, it began to be used as the Jorabagan Police Station. At
that time, the infamous British police officer Charles Tegart served as the
head of the station.
It is said that Tegart used part of the building as a
“torture chamber,” where freedom fighters and revolutionaries were brutally
tortured. This dark past gave the building a grim and terrifying reputation.
During the 1970s, at the time of the Naxalite movement, the
police station once again made headlines. At one point, bombs seized by the
police were stored in the warehouse of the station. One day, the boxes of
explosives suddenly detonated. The explosion damaged part of the building and
seriously injured several police personnel inside. This tragic incident further
strengthened the house’s supernatural reputation.
Due to the explosion, the building’s deteriorating
condition, and safety concerns, it was declared unsafe for use around 1988, and
the Jorabagan Police Station was moved to a smaller building nearby. After
being abandoned, the stories and rumors about the house’s hauntings spread even
more widely—connected as it was with the screams, torture, and horrific
memories of the freedom fighters who suffered there.
Many tales exist of people seeing or sensing something
supernatural within the building—none of which have any scientific explanation.
Some even claim to have seen white shadowy figures moving around the ruins at
night.
Several police officers and local residents have also reported hearing strange crying, screams, or whispering sounds. Many believe these voices belong to the tortured souls of the revolutionaries who suffered under British rule.