An Uttar Pradesh police team allegedly bludgeoned a 22-year-old woman to death and left her sister unconscious while raiding their home on Sunday evening in search of their father, an alleged member of the sand mafia in Chandauli district.

Residents of the village, Manrajpur, erupted in protest and attacked the team of 10 policemen and 2 policewomen with stones and sticks, leaving two injured.

A large police contingent later rescued the 12 and cordoned off the village, 350km east of Lucknow and barely 50km from Varanasi.

Officers said the team had visited the house after receiving a tip-off that Kanhaiya Yadav, banished from the district by its administration two months ago, was hiding at his home.

The tip-off turned out false, they admitted.

A neighbour, Ravindra Kumar, told reporters at 8.30pm that the police team “barged into Yadav’s home around 6.30pm and began beating everyone in sight”.

“They hit one of Yadav’s daughters, Gudiya, in the head, killing her on the spot. Her elder sister Gunjan too suffered head injuries trying to save her sister.”

Villagers took an unconscious Gunjan to hospital, he said. Yadav’s wife was alone in the house, which the police weren’t allowing journalists to enter.

“The police have cordoned off the village and may unleash terror on us in the night,” Kumar feared.

Additional superintendent of police Ankur Agrawal confirmed the woman’s death but suggested possible suicide.

“The villagers are protesting and we are trying to maintain peace. We are also trying to recover the body to send it for a post-mortem. Maybe she committed suicide,” he said.

“We have ordered an inquiry and if we find the police attacked them, the guilty will be punished.”

A local reporter told this newspaper from the village at 9pm: “The situation is volatile and the villagers have become very aggressive. All the senior administrative and police officers are here.”