Over 100 residents of Samserganj in Murshidabad, who lived and sold their wares in Odisha’s Bhadrak district in the past two decades, were compelled to leave the neighbouring state following harassment and physical assault by alleged BJP supporters.

Before leaving Bhadrak, they lodged a complaint with police and a BJP leader has been arrested.

Sairaddin Momin, 45, Rakibaddin Momin, 42, and Manjarul Seikh, 30, — who were injured in the attack — fled Bhadrak and returned home at Mahisthali village in Samserganj on Wednesday morning.

They left the town after abandoning all their belongings following an alleged assault on them by BJP supporters with a cricket bat on Tuesday evening. The attack occurred when they refused to show documents to “prove their Indian citizenship”.

“Some people came and asked us yesterday evening to show papers to prove that we were Indians. When we asked them who they were and why we should show our documents, they started beating us with a cricket bat. I was badly injured. We all went to Bhadrak rural police station and filed a complaint. Although police assured us of action, we couldn’t take the risk and left the place,” said Sairaddin, who had been vending wares in Odisha for over 20 years.

Manjarul said the vendors bought plastic goods and dress materials from Calcutta and stocked them at Charampa village in Odisha. “We sell those things in the surrounding villages. We have been doing this for 15 to 20 years.”

Manjarul is among those who fled Odisha on Tuesday night.

The Murshidabad residents said the problem had started a few days back when two people had gone to them and recorded a video. The hawkers alleged that they circulated the recording on Facebook, falsely claiming that they were Bangladeshis and passed on “critical information” to the neighbouring country.

“After the video went viral, there were attempts to attack us in places where we had been hawking our wares for years. One hawker was beaten up severely, and all his belongings were snatched from us. Most of our 100-member strong vendors’ community in Bhadrak got scared and started to return home,” Rakibaddin, who was also injured in the incident, said.

Sairaddin, who had left all his belongings in Odisha, broke down in tears and said: “I had just purchased goods worth Rs 5 lakh. Everything is in Odisha. vending is my only way to earn a livelihood. Now, I don’t know what to do?”

Asked about the incident, an officer at the office of Bhadrak superintendent of police said a local BJP leader Sayan Parida has been arrested in connection with the attacks on the vendors from Murshidabad.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Bhadrak SP, Varun Guntapalli, said: “Local police have been asked to take strict measures. These things will not be tolerated.”

Expressing shock at the incident, Trinamul candidate for Jangipur Lok Sabha seat Khalilur Rahaman said: “I shall personally speak to them and apprise the chief minister about the whole incident.”