At least 22 Trinamul Congress supporters were hit by pellets when men backing the party’s Chopra MLA opened fire at a market in the Islampur block of North Dinajpur district on Tuesday evening.

Police immediately brought the situation under control. However, a Trinamul Congress panchayat member’s house was vandalised and razed to the ground on Wednesday morning.

The injured are under treatment at the sub-divisional hospital in Islampur. Police are patrolling the area.

Chopra Trinamul MLA Hamidul Rehman had fielded his daughter Arjuna Begum as an Independent candidate in a zilla parishad seat at Sujali in Islampur block in the recent rural elections. Mousumi Khatun was Trinamul’s nominee.

Cracks widened in Trinamul with a section of members backing Begum. But Khatun won the seat.

“Since then, the MLA’s associates had been threatening us with dire consequences for voting for the Trinamul candidate. Yesterday, they reached the weekly market near Sujali and shot pellets at us in an indiscriminate manner,” said Mohammad Sarowar, a Trinamul supporter.

Around 22 people were injured in the attack at the Ataldangihat weekly market.

“The attackers are also Trinamul supporters who are with the MLA. It is surprising that they arranged pellet guns and reached the rural market and started firing at us without any reason,” said Khalil Mohammad, who
was hit by pellets.

Kanaialal Agarwala, the district Trinamul president, reached the village, along with other party leaders.

The police were deployed in the area throughout the night. They also conducted raids to round up the attackers.

In a retaliatory attack, a group of around 300 people attacked the house of Badrul Kamal, a Trinamul member at Sujali gram panchayat member, at Goalgach.

“Since last night, some Trinamul supporters had been in search of my son who took shelter at the MLA’s (Rehman’s) house. Today, some people came and searched for him. They then vandalised our house and set it on fire,”
Asina Khatun, Kamal’s mother, said.

Agarwala, the district Trinamul chief, said senior police officers had been apprised of the incident.

“Some miscreants have fired pellets at our supporters. One of the injured is in critical condition and has been sent to North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (in Siliguri). At the party level, we are collecting details of the incident,” he said.

Rehman, the Chopra MLA, has denied the allegation that his associates were involved in the firing.

“We want the police to probe the incident in an impartial manner. Such violence is not desirable,” he said.

The police said seven persons had been detained in connection with the firing. “Investigation is in progress. Our officers are trying to find out how the attackers managed to get pellet guns,” said an official.