Jamshedpur, Sept. 22: A spate of daylight crimes in the city might not have pushed the cops into action but they came into their own when it came to giving sleepless nights to hundreds of tourists.

On late Wednesday night, the police barged into hotels and lodges at Sakchi, Golmuri and Mango to probe into the loot of Rs 50,000 from a businessman in broad daylight near the Sakchi branch of Central Bank of India yesterday.

Not only did the police invade the privacy of the inmates of the hotels and lodges, a number of occupants were also abused and thrashed up by them as they went ahead with the search of suspected gang members who had reportedly put up in one of the hotels.

Ram Kumar Singh, a businessman from Aurangabad district in Bihar, was one of the victims of the late-night raid by the police. The businessman, who had come here to seek finance for a truck, was thrashed up by a police constable for an alleged delay in opening the doors.

?I had come to the city to talk to some private financiers for purchasing a truck. After visiting a number of offices throughout the day, I returned to my hotel around 10 pm. I was very tired and it took me some time to dress up and open the doors when the police asked me to come out. But without paying any heed to my explanations, a constable slapped me in front of everybody,? the businessman said.

Anant Majhi, a cloth merchant, who had come from Chakradharpur for puja shopping, was not spared as well. ?The policemen were rude and they abused almost everyone. They checked the bags and threw all our belongings on the ground before leaving the room,? said the cloth merchant, adding that a night?s experience was enough for him to not make any more night halts in the city.

One of the hotel-owners, whose premises was raided last night, claimed that it was not for the first time that the police have harassed innocent tourists in search of criminals. Such raids are on whenever there is a crime in the city, he said.

?Abusive language and slapping the visitors is nothing new for us. But we cannot stop them as we have to do business as well,? the owner added.

A senior criminal advocate of the city, Udit Sarkar, termed the late night raids by city police as illogical and a breach of privacy. ?It is true that the police have the right to check any place if they have definite information. But these unsuccessful raids show that they do not have any definite information and this is not permitted under any law,? said Sarkar.

He pointed out that if the police suspected an occupant, they should have deputed some constables at the hotel and waited till morning.

However, deputy superintendent of police Rajiv Ranjan said the police cannot wait to catch a criminal. The department has the right to raid any premises any time if a criminal takes refuge there.