Four police personnel were injured and a police vehicle ransacked when a group of residents at Digambarpur village in South 24-Parganas’ Dholahat turned violent after a woman was allegedly molested at a government quarantine centre on Friday morning.

The injured, including an assistant sub-inspector, were given primary treatment. Nine persons were arrested for attacking cops.

“We have arrested nine persons in connection with the attack on police and started a case of molestation on the complaint of the victim’s father against the village police. The injured cops are stable,” said Vaibhav Tiwari, the Sunderbans police chief.

Village policemen are stationed at the gram panchayat level, much like civic police personnel in towns.

A source said that a 25-year-old homemaker had been sent to a quarantine centre at Digambarpur on Thursday after she had returned from his father’s place at a nearby village. However, the villagers made her stay at the quarantine centre even though government norms do not stipulate such a stay. The accused village policeman was in charge of the quarantine centre.

“The local people found the village cop molesting the woman in a room of the quarantine centre on Thursday night. A group of villagers started agitating in front of the centre by locking its door. When the police rushed to the village and tried to vacate the area, the villagers clashed with them,” the source said.

The accused belonged to the local Dholahat police station and demanded immediate action against the offender. A group of angry villagers ransacked police vehicles with bamboo. A few villagers also received minor injuries during the clash.