Jamshedpur, June 12: About three months ago, Kishan Verma (name changed) glanced through a newspaper report about a cell number which reportedly connected to ghosts and forgot about it moments later.

Last Sunday, the ghost phone number returned to haunt Verma as he received a call from the officer-in-charge, Government Railway Police (GRP) station, Tatanagar, who requested him to report to the police station.

A bewildered Verma had more shock in store as he reached the police station, where he was quizzed about a phone call that was made from his cell number to that of the railway superintendent of police, Priya Dubey, on March 3.

Verma initially expressed absolute ignorance over the issue but later admitted that someone in his family, particularly children, might have been curious about the number and given it a tinker.

?When the caller index shows my cell number it is possible that someone might have called up from my cell without my knowledge. But why should we be held responsible for it? Why not bring the newspaper, which published the report about the mysterious cell number, to books instead? ? Verma told The Telegraph.

Verma was let off without being punished, but it was not such an easy reprieve for Vinod Agarwal (name changed) who had to go through the harrowing experience of being detained a night in the police station last Saturday.

Agarwal was only released after the intervention of the director-general of police, V.D. Ram. The pretext was the same: he had apparently called up the GRP boss?s cell number.

When contacted by The Telegraph Agarwal admitted that his nephew had the habit of making random phone calls to unknown numbers.

?The police should have acted immediately had anyone made the calls to the GRP boss?s number from my cell phones unnecessarily. But why harass me out of the blue. I am quite busy with my own business and hardly have time to amuse myself over a ghost number,? he said.

The GRP, Tatanagar, officials have a long list of more people who had called up their boss?s number. The officials have also brought out printouts of the cell numbers from which the calls were made to superintendent Dubey?s cell.

According to sources, several youths and children were summoned by the police station with reference to the investigations into the alleged ghost phone number case and were forced into letting out information about their family and financial background.

Officer-in-charge GRP, Tatanagar, Subhash Chandra, though, refused to comment on the matter as they were ?merely following the directives of the railway superintendent?.

When contacted, the superintendent, Priya Dubey, confirmed that she had directed her subordinates to look into the matter and find out why a number of strangers had called up her number.

?I wanted to know about the persons who had spread the rumour that they could hear a ghost speak if they called up a particular number, which, in this case, was mine,? Dubey said.

But she refused to comment if any action would be taken taken against the newspaper, which allegedly published the contentious report.