Police arrested four persons in Malda on Sunday for allegedly impersonating law enforcers, ransacking a hotel and assaulting some of the employees at the property.

Sources said the quartet had reached the hotel of Parthasarathi Ghosh, the BJP president of Malda south (organisational district), in Malda town on Friday. They were in plain clothes, introduced themselves as police officers and said they were in search of a person who had checked out.

As the hotel staff asked them to leave, they ransacked the hotel, assaulted some of the employees and left with the register and the cellphone of an employee.

A complaint was later filed at Englishbazar police station and a probe was launched.

On Sunday afternoon, the police intercepted one of them and later arrested the three others also.

The arrested were Jeevan Bhagat, a resident of Malanchapally, and Nayan Roy, who is from Bibigram-Ghoshpara, both located under the jurisdiction of Englishbazar police station. The other two were Mithu Das and Samimuddin, who are from Sorbari and Mangalbari, two localities under the jurisdiction of Malda police station.

During the preliminary investigation, the police came to know that one person had checked into the hotel on February 28 and left on Friday morning.

“He has certain financial issues with the quartet. As they learned about him, they reached the hotel, posing as police officers. They resorted to highhandedness, started searching rooms for the man, and didn’t listen to the hotel staff. We need to interrogate them further to gather more details,” said a police officer.

On Monday, the arrested men were produced in court. They were remanded in police custody for five days.

Hotel owners of the town have appreciated the prompt steps of the police. “We are happy that the police have taken appropriate steps and could arrest all four,” said Krishnendu.