10 policemen injured, van torched by villagers in Malda

Malda, Jan 1 (UNI) At least ten policemen, including two officers, were wounded, one of them seriously, when a section of Bakarpur villagers attacked them, snatched service rifles and torched a police van, dampening Eid festival partially in the predominantly minority Sujapur region, some 25 km north of Malda town, in West Bengal today.

District Superintendent of Police Dilip Mondol said the violence occurred when a section of devotees after offering Eid prayer rushed towards Bangladesh border to chase some cattle lifters, who reportedly took away their livestock across the border. But when the villagers were prevented by the BSF from entering into Bangladesh, they protested and burned two vehicles.

Reinforcement from Kaliachak police station angered the villagers further and they attacked policemen, snatched two rifles, some mobile phones, abducted three policemen and torched a police van.

Circle inspector Sagar Saha, Sub-Inspector Jayanta Lodh and constable Tapan Kumar Deb, who sustained injuries and were kept in a locked room were rescued by another reinforcement led by the police super Mondol. A combing operation forced the local people to return two rifles and the mobile phones of the policemen.

Constable Tapan Kumar Deb, who sustained serious head and leg injuries, was admitted to Sadar hospital.

Mr Mondol said the situation, though tense, was under control adding police picket was set at Bakarpur to restore peace in view of festival.

There was no report of arrest so far.

UNI