WB police official

Nandigram, May 11 (UNI) Nandigram, which saw political skirmishes so far, today witnessed a scuffle between the West Bengal police personnel and CRPF, in which a police official and a woman CRPF constable sustained injuries.

East Midnapore DM Anup Agarwal said the CRPF got involved in a conflict with the local voters over queuing at Garupara polling booth.

''Voters complained of not being able to cast their votes freely and so we intervened,'' Officer-in-charge (OC) Debashis Chakraborty said and added that he had asked the CRPF not to enter the polling area as ''they had no business there''.

But, a scuffle broke out between the state police personnel, led by the OC and the CRPF jawans, the DM said.

However, the CRPF jawans claimed that they were trying to ''control the queue from outside''.

CRPF DIG Alok Raj said, ''Our women constables, who were managing the queue from outside the booths at Kakrukala were obstructed by local state police personnel from carrying out their duties.

He said the policemen were teasing them and provoked them by saying, ''Hum log aapko kam karne nahi denge'' (We will not let you work).

''Clashes initially began between our women constables and the state police personnel,'' he said and added that the male jawans intervened only after these policemen charged at the former.

One of the women constables received a leg injury in the clashes, Mr Raj added.

''The police force, led by Mr Chakraborty, did intervene in the clashes, but our men are not responsible for his injury, the CRPF DIG claimed.

Meanwhile the DM said, ''We have received information that the OC had sustained serious head injury during the clashes with the CRPF jawans. He started bleeding profusely and was immediately brought out of the polling area and sent to Nandigram police station,'' Mr Agarwal said.

Following this incident, tension prevailed in the area and polling was totally suspended, he added.

Meanwhile, at Banthia in East Midnapore under Potahpur police station, Trinamool election camps were allegedly burnt down by CPI(M) party activists. However, SP SS Panda and DIG N Ramesh Babu, who were in Nandigram to oversee the situaiton could not be present there to comment on the allegation or throw any light on the alleged incident.

UNI XC LL SP VC1801