Two brothers who had protested the alleged sale of illicit liquor by a family in a neighbourhood in Behala have complained that they were threatened with a gun and assaulted with the butt of the weapon and an iron rod, police said.
Two men were arrested in connection with the case on Sunday night. Police said 99 litres of liquor — suspected to be illicit — were seized from the accused family on Sunday night.
Bubun Haldar, 25, a resident of Buroshibtala Main Road in Behala, said a family living in the locality had been selling illicit liquor for “several years”.
“Anyone who dared to protest was either beaten up or threatened with dire consequences. On Saturday night, my family and I protested when they were selling liquor on the main road. It causes a lot of nuisance. A place where such illegal activities happen becomes unsafe for everyone,” Bubun told Metro on Monday.
“Enraged by our protests, two brothers, their father and a relative barged into our house and started assaulting me and my brother.”
Haldar mentioned in the police complaint lodged by him that he and brother Subun, 23, were attacked with the butt of a gun and also assaulted with an iron rod.
Bubun said he and his brother are contractual workers at the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
“They (the attackers) barged into our house and brandished a gun at us, threatening us not to protest against the sale of illicit liquor. When my family members came to my rescue, they started beating me with the butt of the gun and an iron nod. My brother, who tried to save me, was also assaulted,” he said.
The brothers were then allegedly dragged out of their house and subjected to yet another round of attack on the road.
The police said a case has been started, based on Bubun’s complaint, under the Indian Penal Code sections on assault and criminal intimidation and also under the arms act.
“After we raided the house of the accused family and found almost 100 litres of illicit liquor that they were selling, certain sections of the West Bengal Excise Act have
been added to the case,” said an officer at Behala police station.
“An inquiry has been started and two of the persons whose names were mentioned in the FIR have been arrested. They are Sunil Halder and Surojit Halder, residents of 219 Jyotish Roy Road,” the officer said.
The two were produced in court on Monday and remanded in police custody.
“The two others who have been named in the FIR are still at large,” the officer said.
This newspaper visited the neighbourhood on Monday and found the house where the accused stay locked.