Foreigners allege harassment by guest house owner

Varanasi: One of the foreigners stranded in the city following lockdown levelled serious allegations of harassment on the guest house he was staying in through a Facebook post.
However, when circle officer Dashaswamedh Priti Tripathi reached the guest house in Dashaswamedh are to investigate, it was found that he and one more tourist were left wkith no money with them and were trying to leave the guest house without clearing dues of over Rs 17,000.
Tripathi said that a Russian national Stepan Christanov staying in a guest house since March 22 had levelled several allegations through a post on his social media page on Sunday. This foreigner alleged that he and other foreigners staying in the guest house were not allowed to go outside even to buy medicines and they were finding it difficult to get proper meals too.
When the police reached there for investigation, she said, two tourists including the Russian and a German national complained against the guest house owner and his family members. On being questioned the guest house owner said that he was not allowing these foreigners to leave the campus in view of the directives of the administration and police.
The guest house also showed the list of dues, including room rent and others, of over Rs 17,000 against these foreigners and said that even after offering to pay half of the dues and then leave for another accommodation these foreigners were levelling allegations, said Tripathi.
The CO said that the guest house owner had been directed to allow the foreigners staying there to go outside to buy essential articles and medicine during the hours of market opening. She said that police will send a report to the embassy concerned in this episode.