A clash between two groups of people over the allegation of embezzlement of funds of a local club at Kajigram, a locality under the English bazar police station of Malda, took a political turn on Thursday.

While a group of people who are Trinamul Congress supporters alleged that some others who are associated with the BJP have assaulted them, those from the saffron camp denied the charge and accused the Trinamul supporters of misappropriating the club’s fund.

“The club had accumulated a fund of ₹5.31 lakh by using the grant provided by the state ahead of Durga Puja every year. Bubai Pramanik, an office-bearer of the club, embezzled the amount. He is with the BJP while we are Trinamul supporters. As we protested against his misappropriation of the club’s fund, he attacked us last night,” said Jharna Mandal, a resident of Kajigram.

Even on Friday, both sides attacked each other with bricks and sticks, which left at least 10 people injured.

After the incident, local Trinamul leaders filed a complaint with the police, accusing Pramanik and some others of the attack.

Radharani Mandal, another Trinamul worker, said: “We voted Trinamul in the Lok Sabha elections but in our area, the BJP got the lead. Since then they have been trying to heckle us on one pretext or the other. As we protested against the Bubai Pramanik, he attacked us.”

BJP leaders, however, denied the charge. Biswajit Roy, a BJP leader, said Trinamul has instigated a section of locals to boycott Pramanik’s family for long on the false allegation that he has misappropriated the club’s fund.

“They were trying to share the fund among themselves illegally to which Pramanik protested. This irked the Trinamool supporters who attacked him yesterday. Now, they are accusing him of the attack,” said Roy.

Senior police officers at English bazar police station said Pramanik has been detained based on a complaint. “We are probing the case and veracity of the charges levelled against him,” said an officer.